RE: Use of Optional in instructions

Subject: RE: Use of Optional in instructions
From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: "Phillips, Wanda" <wanda -dot- phillips -at- philips -dot- com>, "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:20:11 -0400

Phillips, Wanda had this to say:
> Generally, we use the topic title to indicate a larger goal
> (Measuring the Need to Reply) and then within the
> instructions choices, optional actions, and required actions
> are handled differently.
>
> Choices are listed (Perform one or more of the following:),
> optional actions begin with the goal (To include more
> respondants, do this.) or an indication of the optional
> status (If required, If desired), and required actions are
> simply stated (Select the names from the x list.)

For me, as a user, the problem arises when (a-la Microsoft, Adobe, and many more including open-source projects) the instructions obligingly say "to do this..." but they don't tell me - nor do they point to another help topic that would tell me - WHY I might want to do this, what the benefits and drawbacks of doing it might be, how necessary it is... In other words, in the world of "context-sensitive" I'm frequently stranded without context, and no obvious way to put a plausible one together.

This goes back to somebody else's comments about finding yourself confronted by instructions that assume you have already done a bunch of necessary things previously, and if you follow the current instructions without having done those pre-requisites, you get into all kinds of not-well-explained grief and murderous-rage-inducing wheel-spinning.


> We do, for regulatory reasons, include descriptions of every
> control, option, and piece of equipment and we do describe
> *every* OK click for much the same reason.

Regulatory reasons cover a multitude of sins, but they do protect our butts when courts have to take the regulations as guidance for "what a reasonable person should expect" or "what a reasonable person should have done".


- Kevin


Error. Please return to a state of not yet having filled out the purchase req for this computer. Stopping at any intermediate step will retain corruption from the mistake we just allowed/led you to make.
The information contained in this electronic mail transmission
may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected
from disclosure. If you have received this communication in
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this
message and deleting it from your computer without copying
or disclosing it.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


References:
RE: Use of Optional in instructions: From: Combs, Richard
RE: Use of Optional in instructions: From: Boudreaux, Madelyn (GE Healthcare, consultant)
Re: Use of Optional in instructions: From: Robert Lauriston
Re: Use of Optional in instructions: From: Gene Kim-Eng
RE: Use of Optional in instructions: From: Phillips, Wanda

Previous by Author: RE: Use of Optional in instructions
Next by Author: RE: Use of Optional in instructions
Previous by Thread: RE: Use of Optional in instructions
Next by Thread: Re: Use of Optional in instructions


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads