Minimalism

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 Pete Kloppenburg wondered <<are there any guidelines we
 can use when deciding whether a minimalist approach is
 warranted?>>

 I'll cheat and redefine the question: To me, minimalism
 means giving readers everything they need to know, and
 nothing more that interferes with this information. The
 astute reader will have noted that this definition avoids
 the real issue: how do we determine what the readers need
 to know? Ah! That's the crux.

 Back to Pete's question: You can create appropriately vague
 rules of thumb for what constitutes minimalism, and in
 which situations it applies, but I'm not convinced that
 these are useful. If pressed, I'd say that people who want
 to learn _about_ something need more than a minimalist
 approach, whereas those who simply want to _do_ something
 and forget about the details will appreciate minimalist
 docs. The problem is, there's a wide spectrum of users in
 between. Thus, it's more important to know your audience
 well enough to understand what they need to know, what
 would be useful but not essential, and what would be
 useless. Then do triage on that basis. The usual compromise
 is to use formatting tricks that let readers see the
 important stuff at a glance, yet leave the less important
 details there for anyone who wants them.

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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