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:Help or User Manual First? From:Alexander Von_obert <avobert -at- TWH -dot- MSN -dot- SUB -dot- ORG> Date:Tue, 6 May 1997 14:50:00 +0100
Hello,
rr> >The user might need some paper to install the program and to
rr> do his first
rr> > peeks into it. You might be able to write that well ahead.
rr> Of course, the manual they (the software maker who shall remain
rr> nameless) does not provide much of a user's manual. And of
rr> course,
rr> I had problems installing a CD-ROM driver, modem was not being
rr> recognized (it's a Plug and 'Pay' type), the mouse driver had a
rr> yellow exclamation mark on it in the Devices screen, etc.
I said "The User might need some paper to install the program"...
rr> I still haven't got it running properly and am sending this
rr> e-mail
rr> from my Window 3.11 hard disk (thank goodness I kept it intack)
I must confess: I write this on a 486/40 MHz running under PC-DOS 5.02. I have
nothing beyond Windows 3.11 (3.1 plus bugfix, no "Workgroups"). My customers
might force me do "upgrade" during the next months and I will NOT install any
Win32 version on my existing machines (but buy a new machine bundled with much
of the new software I will need).
rr> So I spent $60 to buy the
rr> biggest book I have ever bought in life; namely, the "Windows
rr> 95 Resource Kit" manual, which takes up alot of desk space.
This is the extreme solution to the problem. :-)
But please keep in mind where the discussion started: Someone could
not do all on both paper and online. And we can agree that you need paper
during installation (I often print those READ.ME files of shareware packages)
and quite often some basic information to get started with the program.
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
