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Well, in my case, as soon as I know the general functional design as been
approved, then I can at least determine a sense of direction. I work with
development builds and document as the functions become available. Screen
shots are easy to do, I use Paint Shop. Depending on the kind of change, I
may alter the graphic in Paint Shop (great for changing data), or reshoot
it. Then I save it with the same name and link it, so when it comes up
again in the file, the most up-to-date graphic always appears. So far it
works fairly well with this app.
My previous employer sounds like a clone to yours, and they wouldn't let me
near a development build. They also refused to update our test database for
over 6 weeks, causing me to have to rewrite and reshoot a horrendous amount.
My saving grace here is that the development team follows the project plan
and change management procedures closely, and they like keeping me in the
loop. Sounds like a little bit of paradise, doesn't it?
Connie Giordano.
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Hanson [mailto:PHanson -at- Quintrex -dot- com]
*snip*
In the future, when development and documentation are joined at the hip,
instead of being cousins that only see each other at funerals or yearly
reunions, then I'll push to have screen prints in the online help. Until
then, though, they will be used sparingly.
For those that do use them in your .hlp files, how do you manage changes
to the design? Is your code frozen? How do you reconcile changes in the
GUI of the software that don't get incorporated into the doc.