Re: Mayvbe O/T? - Text development vs tech writing

["Dana Worley" <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com>]

Judy Ferril asked:

> Is anyone out there just developing text for user's manuals without
> regard to format, design, graphic choices, etc.?
> 
> I am curious how this works as I have been asked to do so and am
> finding it difficult. Just write text and turn it over to a formatter
> (?). This person then chooses graphics, set up, etc. and applies it to
> the text. I usually tie all of these together to make it flow, not to
> mention instructional. Any suggestions for removing my mental block
> would be appreciated.

When I author help files (which is the majority of my writing tasks), 
I am the one who decides the "look and feel" of the end product. 
However, when I author manuals, I just write the manual and do not 
worry about the final format. Once the manual is very close to a 
final draft, I hand it over to someone else who is responsible for 
formatting all our manuals to make sure they have a consistent 
style. I prepare my documents in Word (gasp!) and make sure that 
I use consistent styles for headers, paragraphs, etc. This makes it 
easier on the person who will put it into the final format.

I do, however, provide all screen shots. If you don't provide the 
actual screenshots, you should at least be the one that dictates 
which screen shots appear in the manual. You are the one writing 
the text -- you know what message you are trying to get across, 
and what screen shots and illustrations will help to convey that 
message.  (Also, in my case, the person who formats the 
document is truly just a "formatter" and can't really handle anything 
else...). If an illustration needs to be done, we have someone else 
in-house who does that (I'm not an illustrator -- I am a writer). 

My company wants all its documents formatted the same. I may 
not like the format they have chosen, but this is just one of those 
areas where I have to "let go" and not worry about it. And, in the 
end, it IS just one less thing I have to worry about. 

Dana W.


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