Re: Options location in manual

Subject: Re: Options location in manual
From: Grant Hogarth <GRANT -at- ONYXGFX -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 11:00:29 +8

Hmmm....
One of the wonderful things about FrameMaker is that I can put in a
dynamic link between the text and the reference. This allows me to use
a minimal example in the text, and a "For a complete explanation of
all the switches for this variable, see pg. 232" to let them get at
the guts if they need to. I could even xref to another manual if I
wanted to (Athena be thanked, I've not needed to yet.)

Grant

> At 4:58 PM 2/6/96, Warren Turner wrote:

> >What is the most user friendly and functional location for the
> >users' options section (i.e. global defaults) in the User Manual.
> >These items presently exist near the back of the manual in an
> >advanced user section, the difficulty stems from the production of
> >numerous forward references as the product has grown.

To which Susan Gallagher replied:

> But, if you move the list of defaults from the back of the book to the front,
> you'll just be trading forward ref's for backward ref's, won't you???

> Some users want to view all the defaults together and they mostly don't
> care if the collection appears at the front of the book or at the back.

> Other users want to view the defaults that they're concerned about in the
> chapter where related information (like how to change the defaults) lives.

> To satisfy the greatest number of users and to make the book as usable
> as possible, create a section where all the defaults can be seen together
> and *repeat* the individual values in the appropriate chapters.

=====================================
Grant Hogarth, Information Developer, Onyx Graphics Corp. Midvale, UT
www.onyxgfx.com ftp.onyxgfx.com
#include <std_disclaim>

Now where's that "any" key? Ah, here it is, right next to the self-destru


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