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RE: Including Notification emails in documentation
Subject:RE: Including Notification emails in documentation From:Matthew Horn <mhorn -at- macromedia -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 8 Aug 2002 09:06:32 -0400
Wade,
Are they printed manuals or are they online help? If they are printed, then you have to weigh cost versus usefulness. If they are online, and there's room on the CD (or in the download), then I say include them...maybe in a table with pointers to additional information about the messages.
You'd be surprised how "informational" messages can cause users to think something is wrong. What often happens is that these types of messages are often written by developers and not reviewed by anyone. It might be helpful if you were able to add info that explains what the messages REALLY mean.
Matthew Horn
Sr. Technical Writer
< m a c r o m e d i a >
-----Original Message-----
From: Wade Courtney [mailto:WCourtney -at- Elance -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 7:13 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Including Notification emails in documentation
all-
I write docs for a web-based application that on occasion will send out notifications via email. I am having a discussion with the product developer who thinks it would be useful to include a catalog of the messages in the user guide. There are a lot of notification messages. BTW, these are purely informational and are not error messages. I really don't think they would add much value to the documentation, but I wanted to know others opinions before I address this with him again.
Thanks,
____________________
C. Wade Courtney
Elance, Inc.
Direct 408.524.7537
Fax 408.524.4814
wade -at- elance -dot- com
Yahoo Messenger - wcourtne
www.elance.com
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