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.
Hello everyone. I'm new to the technical writing list as of
today, and glad to be here.
I'm wondering if anyone can help me out. I am trying to determine
whether anyone has studied the methods of documentation design
that can help writers create a layering effect so that both
novices and experienced users (of the product or procedure) can
access information efficiently. Does anyone actively try to
do this in their documents? Do you know of any studies or theoretical
coverage of this issue?
Also, is "usability" a term that refers to documentation, or is this
term primarily used in relation to software? If people use it
in relation to documentation, does anyone know of articles that
I could find discussing document usability.
I really appreciate any help that anyone could give me. I look
forward to hearing more from all of you. Thanks.
Margie Monforton
monforto -at- emuvax -dot- emich -dot- edu