Re: proofing docs

["Tamminga, Ernie" <et -at- DSC -dot- COM>]

From some manuals I've read that came with products I've tried to learn,
I do get THE IMPRESSION that nobody proofread them.

I hope that's not really the case, though.  It would not be good policy.

--------
Ernie Tamminga
Director, InfoEngineering
Digital Sound Corporation

>-----Original Message-----
>From:  Cathy Carr [SMTP:ccarr -at- OVID -dot- COM]
>Sent:  Wednesday, May 14, 1997 11:04 AM
>To:    TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject:       proofing docs
>
>To:   techwr-l @ listserv.okstate.edu
>cc:
>Subject:  proofing docs
>
>
>Techwhirlers--
>
>I'm a newbie in the tech-writing world, still getting my feet on the
>ground.
>
>My first major project at this company was updating a UNIX sysadmin manual.
>This is probably our longest document and one that gets a lot of use.  As a
>matter of course, I sat down with the manual and a pencil for a
>read-through.  One of my fellow tech writers remarked that she doubted if
>she'd ever read one of our manuals all the way through.  Now, I do have a
>good amount of editorial experience, and this just amazed me.  To me it's a
>basic step, just as basic as running a program when you're done writing it!
>Since then, I've asked another person here (who has experience as a
>documentation manager), and she said that it's quite common for manuals,
>release notes, and suchlike things to go out from software companies
>without ever being proofread.
>
>Is this true in y'all's experience?  If it is, does anyone have suggestions
>as to how to keep up quality control in documentation that isn't read by
>the people who write it?  :-)
>I apologize if this is a silly or overly-basic question.  You can answer me
>directly if you don't want to bore the more experienced techwhirlers.
>Thanks--
>
>Cathy
>
>Cathy Carr
>Documentation Specialist
>Ovid Technologies, Inc.
>1/212/563-3006 | 1/800/950-2035
>http://www.ovid.com
>
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