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.
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Becca Price asked for opinions on a house that writes out instructions in
narrative form rather than as steps: <<That is, rather than having step 1,
step 2, etc, an instruction might read (under a header like "Using the XYZ
Screen"): "To add an item to the data base, enter the specific information
and press Add. To locate an item already in the database, enter any
information you may have, and press Search. If more than one item matches
your criteria, you will see...">>
The problem with this format is that it makes it considerably more difficult
for readers to see the number and sequence of steps, and makes it
considerably easier for them to lose their position within the sequence. It
also makes it much harder to skim the documentation to find the particular
instructions they're seeking, since they have to skim entire paragraphs
rather than just the first few words of a paragraph; breaking out the "to
add" and "to locate" as subheadings greatly facilitates skimming, and if the
associated text isn't long enough to justify a full subheading, moving the
"to do x" to the beginning of its own sentence or paragraph at least
facilitates skimming by letting readers examine only the first few words
before deciding to proceed.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"Technical writing... requires understanding the audience, understanding
what activities the user wants to accomplish, and translating the often
idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something that appears to make
sense."--Donald Norman, The Invisible Computer
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