Procedural Steps

["Dimock, Dick" <red -at- ELSEGUNDOCA -dot- NCR -dot- COM>]

Our Beloved Eric posted:

(Snip)
 I've found that many
books present the information as
1.      Select some text.
2.      The text will appear highlighted on the screen.
3.      Click the B button.
4.      The text will be boldfaced.
5.      Do something else.

with all kinds of numbered stuff that doesn't require
action.

(Snip)
 I personally
REALLY object to the numbered non-steps,

Snip to end

***************************************
Eric, I've been here too. I have used both the paragraph
and the numbered steps.  The numbered steps win out
in clarity. If you have a space crunch though, the paragraph
can save your day.

On numbering non-action events ---

I include the action and the result in one step:

1.      Select some text.
         The text will appear highlighted on the screen.

2.      Click the B button.
        The text will be boldfaced.

Where you get into difficulty is when you are describing
a series of screens and operator responses.

At first I was using the straight forward:

1.  Press Enter to start the xxx configuration

2.  The xxx configuration screen appears,
 asking for your ID:

    (Short screen shot)

3. Enter your ID


Then I decided to accentuate the ACTION steps
and de-emphasize the RESULT event:

1.  Press Enter to start the xxx configuration
     Screen.
    The xxx configuration screen appears,
     asking for your ID:
    (Short screen shot)
______________________________

2  Enter your ID.
    The Password question appears:
(maybe a shot)
____________________________

3.  Enter your password.
     The configuration menu comes up.
   (shot)
_______________________________

4.  Select 1 for the first step.
     The Config. 1 screen displays.

ETCCC.

Users found this unwieldy. Did not like!  I did not like
readers not like. What had I done wrong?

I had followed exactly the chronological sequence,
but in a mechanical, cause-effect sequence.
The chronology was followed, but the step
*boundaries* were not at the user's reality.

Readers wanted the "question" and "response"
together in the same step.

It asks Y/N?
I type  Y.
End of step.

So the better layout is:

1.  Press Enter to start the xxx configuration.
______________________________
2.  The xxx configuration screen appears,
      asking for your ID:
    (Short screen shot)

       Enter your ID.
_________________________________

3.    The Password question appears:
     (maybe a shot)

        Enter your password.
 __________________________
4.    The configuration menu comes up.
       (shot)

      Select 1 for the first step.
_______________________________

5.     The Config. 1 screen displays.
         Looks like this

         Do sumthin'
________________________

My (heh) usability research consisted of receiving
complaints, many of them. They were couched in
words like:

Confusing
I lost track
Not as clear as the other procedures

I corrected the chapter, and never heard another
word about it. Which is *my* verification that I done
good.

FWIW, Eric! I would be interested in other research
also.

Regards,

Dick Dimock    Artfully Senior Tech Writer @

NCR Corp  Where we are having fun selling
          Data Warehousing to the World,
          from itty bitty

El Segundo, CA The Town that Chevron Built.

red -at- elsegundoca -dot- ncr -dot- com
dickdimock -at- earthlink -dot- net