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Subject:Re: Better way to indicate a variable in doc From:Paul Goble <pg -at- pgcommunication -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 24 Oct 2002 15:35:36 -0600
Two days ago, Johanne asked about a better way than "Port %s of %s"
to represent variables.
I can't guess what will work best for you, but here are some
questions you can ask yourself:
What are the readers are accustomed to seeing? What other manuals
do these people read? What are the conventions used in those manuals?
Will users attempt to type in your notation just as you wrote it?
If that's a danger, sometimes it's better to use italics (or some
other formatting that can't easily be typed) rather than % or <>.
Is it possible to JUST use examples? In your message, I found
"Port 4 of 8 is not answering calls" much easier to read than
"Port %s of %s is not answering calls." If the user is trying
to decode a message, they really don't need you to give an
exact specification of the message format. They only need to
be able to recognize that the message in your document is "close
enough" to the message they're worrying about.
Paul
pg -at- pgcommunication -dot- com
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