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Subject:Re: examples From:"Parks, Beverly" <ParksB -at- EMH1 -dot- HQISEC -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL> Date:Wed, 26 Aug 1998 07:39:38 -0700
> Lisa Comeau asked about the use of cute names, humor, or "real"
> people in
> examples.
=======
I used to use names of people from this list <g>. For the last
go 'round I started using an alphabetical theme. Part of the software I
document is for project management. One project will be all A's, where
the project name, deliverable names, people names, anything that needs
to be named, begins with an A. The names don't necessarily make sense,
such as Alabaster Abacus or Antelope Aerial Activation. Another project
will be all B's, etc. There's actually some benefit to this silly
scheme: when there are reports or screens that combine information from
multiple projects, it is instantly clear which info pertains to which
project. (Yeah, I know. It should be clear without adding such clues.
And it is, but the additional clues help readers comprehend what they
are seeing even faster.)
The user base for this product is relatively small (about 400)
and internal, so I've got a bit more leeway for trying different methods
than if this was a commercially distributed product.
