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Subject:Re: What about minimalism? From:Bob Handlin 1331 <BHandlin -at- CHIPCOM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 11 Oct 1994 11:18:00 PDT
Patrick O'Connell writes:
> Actually, I think a great deal can be gotten from applying your own
> experiences as a documentation user to what you're working
> on. It's the old put-yourself-in-the-user's-shoes principle -- as a
> documentation user, what do YOU like to see? Easier said than done,
> n'est-ce-pas?
I rarely read technical manuals (FrameMaker 3.0 was the only time I even
tried to go cover to cover, and I failed). Manuals are too long, and I've
got work to do. I assume that my readers are in the same boat. I assume
that the vast majority of users use the product until they get stuck, then
go to the index of the book and jump straight to the answer.
It's painful to think that a lot of the stuff we put in the books never gets
read, but we have to be realistic. In the vast majority of cases, if the
user can go to the index and the entry leads them to an intelligent solution
to their problem, you've written a good manual. If on the other hand you've
written chapter after chapter over gorgeous text, and the one time a user
goes to the book the answer isn't there, in their mind the book is a piece
of garbage. C'est la vie! (Sorry, it's only French phase I know;-))
