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.
Subject:Re: QUESTION: hardware version in manual? From:Steve Struck <stephens -at- ALR -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 15 Sep 1998 08:25:57 -0800
Patricia,
When you refer to "information about the hardware versions," are you talking
about functional information such as jumper settings and configuration or setup
information, or are you just referring to a version or release number (i.e., PCB
Ver. 5.1.2)? If you are just talking about a version update and not a change in
function, setup or configuration, I would probably include a statement in the
manual indicating "The information in this publication relates to PCB Version
5.1.2 and newer. When new features or improvements added to subsequent versions
of the hardware make it necessary, a new manual will be published." This lets
the customer/user know the earliest version of the hardware for which the manual
is appropriate. If necessary, you could issue an addendum to the manual each
time a new version of the hardware is released, as long as there is no
functional change. If your company has a web site, you could even post a list of
manual revisions and show the hardware versions that each manual covers.
