TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:"Using this Book" From:Mike Christie <mikec -at- SYNTEL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 31 Mar 1994 09:00:28 PST
A couple of years ago I was at a company that developed
and marketed a shrink-wrapped personal accounting package.
We converted from the old-fashioned, early-80's,
one-menu-per-screen user interface to the DOS CUA standard.
I spent a lot of time and effort very carefully documenting how
to get around the system with the new interface (we had a lot
of customers we _knew_ were going to be resistant to the change)
and we included the chapter _both_ in the upgrade booklet _and_
in the complete user guide.
Did anyone read it? Based on my experience handling customer suport
calls (it was a _very_ small company), almost no one.
Bottom line: The software has got to be as self-explanatory as possible
(as was discussed at length here some months ago), and the manual has
got to be organized so the user can immediately fi_immediately_ find a specific
topic
when s/he goes to look for it.
(But try doing that with the enterprise software I am documeting these days!)
Mike Christie
Technical Writer
Syntelligence Systems, Inc.
mikec -at- syntel -dot- com
PS: Apologies for all the italics. I'm just feeling very _emphatic_ today.
