Re: Great Technical Manuals from Canon!

Subject: Re: Great Technical Manuals from Canon!
From: "Dana Worley" <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com>
To: 'TECHWR-L' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 10:08:06 -0600

Interesting to see all these kudos about Canon manuals. I
purchased a Canon SD 700is last year. I thought the manual was
awful -- confusing directions on how to enable the features, and full
of "duh" help but nothing helpful. For example, there was
information on how to change the ISO, but there was nothing telling
me *why* I might want to change the ISO (BTW, I understand ISO,
this is an example :).

This was in contrast to a Nikon Coolpix L1 manual, that, while it
didn't go into great detail, actually did tell you why/when you might
want to use a specific setting and provided fairly clear directions on
how to enable the feature. I was so frustrated with the Canon
manual, that (being the tech writer I am) I had the fleeting thought of
writing a "How to use the Canon SD 700is" manual for the other
poor souls out there like me :)

[ An aside for those interested in cameras: IMO Picture-wise, the
Canon SD 700is does a better job than the Nikon Coolpix L1 (both
point & shoots, similar cost & similar features). But, my Nikon D40
digital SLR is king -- at least in my house :) ]

So... back to technical writing... From my perspective, the Canon
manual was a lot less useable than the Nikon, though they were
very similar products. As always, it depends upon your audience
and it wasn't me the Canon writers were targeting. I'd like to think
I'm not the least common denominator out there, but maybe so :)

2 cents,

Dana W

***************************
Dana Worley
Software Product Manager/Manager, Software Support Group
Campbell Scientific, Inc.
dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com


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References:
Re: Great Technical Manuals from Canon! (Was - Re: Tech writers stillnecessary, but performing poorly): From: Jennifer C. Bennett
Re: Great Technical Manuals from Canon! (Was - Re: Tech writers stillnecessary, but performing poorly): From: Norm Dancy

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