Re: Documenting two similar interfaces

[Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>]

Wherever possible, I'd document the right-click context menu instead.
It's usually more efficient anyway.

Maybe this is why Microsoft forced the ribbon UI on everyone rather
than offering the "classic" option.

On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 8:15 AM, Sarah Blake<Sarah -dot- Blake -at- microfocus -dot- com> wrote:
> To save me reinventing the wheel...
>
> I'm currently working on a project where we're upgrading the UI to use a
> new 'ribbon'-style interface (a la MS Word), but users will also have
> the option to use the familiar 'classic' interface.  The documentation
> will therefore need to deal with both.
>
> I'm not sure which of these will be the default; I suspect the ribbon
> interface, but I don't know for certain.  And while the placement of
> functions within menus is similar between the two, it's not identical.
>
> At the moment, I'm looking at basically doing the following:
>
> 1. From Furniture > Hatstand (or Interior > Furniture > Hatstand if
> using the Classic interface)
>
> ...but the help is the approximate size of War and Peace, and giving
> double directions for each task seems a bit cumbersome, especially when
> (as seems inevitable) I'm going to have to go back through in a couple
> of releases' time, removing one set.
>
> If I have to, then I have to, but does anyone else who's gone through
> this process have any tips or suggestions?  (The documentation format is
> CHM, created from XML source files.)
>
>
> Sarah Blake
> Senior Technical Author
> Micro Focus
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

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