Re: Which style of giving instructions is more effective?

Subject: Re: Which style of giving instructions is more effective?
From: Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: Ryan Pollack <ryan -at- clicksecurity -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:25:14 -0500

Condition must precede action.


On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 12:24 PM, Ryan Pollack <ryan -at- clicksecurity -dot- com>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm debating the merits of two different styles of commands:
>
> "Enter the following command to restart the device:"
>
> (followed by the command itself)
>
> and
>
> "Restart the device by entering the following command:"
>
> (followed by the command itself)
>
> I've been flipping back & forth on these for years; now that I am creating
> a new documentation set, I'd like to be consistent, if that is even
> possible (or desirable).
>
> Any thoughts on the relative merits of each style? Situations when either
> would be useful? etc.
>
> Thanks for your input!
>
> --
>
> Ryan Pollack
> Senior Technical Writer | Click Security
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--
Bill Swallow
Writing and Content Strategy Consultant
http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including Mobile and EPUB.

Read all about them: http://bit.ly/doc-to-help-10-outputs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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References:
Which style of giving instructions is more effective?: From: Ryan Pollack

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