TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Layout, navigation, and content, and three-legged stools
Subject:Layout, navigation, and content, and three-legged stools From:hedley_finger -at- myob -dot- com -dot- au To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Nov 2002 12:55:06 +1100
I find discussions about which is most important, content, layout, or
navigation rather pointless. Why propose useless either-or competitions?
Ask yourself 'Which is the most important leg on a three-legged stool?'.
Layout: Typeset the contents of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica in 5/5 pt Zapf
Chancery, including all headings, figure captions, tables of contents, and
index. Turn all numbered and bulleted paragraphs into plain paragraphs and
run them together into bigger paragraphs. Now do you agree that layout is
important: typography gives us visual cues about which paras are headings,
which are block quotes, and which are footnotes, and help us understand the
structure of a document.
Content: Remove entire paragraphs, sections, and the occasional chapter
from a lengthy user guide, but make sure it has delicious typography, and
detailed contents and Index. Now ask a reader to perform a task only
documented in content that you have removed.
Navigation: Delete the index and table of contents from a user guide,
suppress running heads and feet, suppress page numbers, and change all
headings to body type. Now ask a reader to find a description of a
particular function in the product.
When you state the extreme case for each proponent of a particular argument
as to what is the most important component of documentation, the argument
collapses.
As my dear old mother was wont to tell me at her knee, 'The most important
aspect of documentation is completeness, accuracy, understandability,
accessibility, and attractiveness.' So there ...
Regards,
Hedley
--
Hedley Finger
Technical Communications/Technical communicator and FrameMaker mentor
MYOB Australia <http://www.myob.com.au/>
P.O. box 371 Blackburn VIC 3130 Australia
12 Wesley Court Tally Ho Business Park East Burwood VIC 3151
Australia
<mailto:hedley_finger -at- myob -dot- com -dot- au>
Tel. +61 3 9222 9992 x 7421, Mob. (cell) +61 412 461 558
(C) MYOB Limited 2002
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Check out SnagIt - The Screen Capture Standard!
Download a free 30-day trial from http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/txt/twr
Find out what all the other tech writers, including Dan, already know!
Order RoboHelp X3 in November and receive $100 mail in rebate, FREE WebHelp
Merge Module and the new RoboPDF - add powerful PDF output functionality
to RoboHelp X3. Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
