Integrating techie stuff and user guide

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

 Jane Bergen is <<looking at combining some very technical
 material with a user guide>>, and asked for suggestions.

 Since it sounds like you've got a fairly even mix of the
 two kinds of information, you'll probably not be able to
 use the standard trick of using a simple format to make the
 two types of information distinct:

 1. Pick X from the Y menu.
     Here's the explanation/techie stuff.
 2. Continued...
     Techie stuff for 2. and so on.

 One thing that can work well is to break the chapters into
 basic and advanced sections; a physics textbook I own does
 this quite well. The basic sections come at the front of
 the chapter, and cover just the basics (in this context,
 step by step procedures); the latter half of the chapter
 then goes into the gory details (e.g., why you do the
 procedures, what was Bill Gates thinking when he programmed
 this, how many angels can dance on a pinhead <grin>).

 One question, though. It's very helpful to explain the
 overall metaphor to users (so long as you don't go
 overboard and carry the metaphor to the point it becomes
 inconsistent or ridiculous), and if your "techie" info.
 falls into this class, it might perhaps form an "overview"
 section for each chapter of the user guide. Feasible in
 your case?

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