Re: Gerunds Always in Headings for Online Help?

["Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- editors-writers -dot- info>]

> Questions:
> 1. Has anybody else seen how this use of gerunds might get in the way of
the
> user finding what they are looking for?
> 2. Has anybody else come up with another scheme for naming the heading so
> that gerunds can be eliminated or used less often?
> 3. If the answer to #2 is Yes, would you please share?
>
> I'd appreciate any comments on this issue.
>

When I worked at Parametric Technology, we saw that train before it arrived.
We designed a Help system to prevent the problem altogether.
The Help system had the following topic types, and the Help system itself
was organized according to subject/module:

- Concepts
- Procedures
- Reference
- Example
- (It's been more than a year, and I can't remember the last topic type)

Using this arrangement, you could have seventeen "Creating a New
<Whatever>", but because they'd all appear in different "books" or main
units of the Help system, they cause no confusion.

Bonnie Granat
http://www.editors-writers.info





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