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.
> The whole issue may become more complex, though, because now we're
> talking
> about giving the customer one set of bound manuals along with a set on
> CD
> -- what they'll do with crops marks on their CD versions, I don't
> exactly
> know. And now that someone else has raised the issue of users editing
> the
> docs, I'm a little worried and will have to take this up with my boss.
> The
> software doesn't really pose any life-threatening dangers, but a few
> changes here and there could crash systems.
>
I have encountered this request before, and have balked at the idea of
the user's changes the text in the manuals. It also brings up some
legal questions too: on copyrights (they could print out multiple copies
of the manual w/o paying), and what if the changes cause system
problems, could the client try to charge lost time back to you, and so
on....
Well, the way we got around it was that we allowed them to add
notes via a note pushbutton with an internally created interface and
store the notes on the local hard drive.
Gina
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
