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Subject:RE: end user vs end-user From:Kim Roper <kim -dot- roper -at- pixelink -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 24 Oct 2003 14:45:48 -0400
Eric Dunn wrote:
> Yes, out of context like that they're all users. In
> meta-discussions about your
> company's products they all need to be addressed. But it
> still seems to me that
> if we're talking about documentation in-context it's wrong
> get tangled in
> definitions of user.
Actually, it's never been an issue. In context, the meaning has always been
clear. There's more being read into this than is necessary or valid.
>
> Are ALL of these customers being addressed/targeted in one
> set of documentation?
> If so sounds like poorly designed docs.
Did I imply that anywhere?
> Or are the docs split into different tasks/work definitions?
> The docs aimed at
> the end-users need only have 'user', 'you', or just simply be
> written using
> instructions from the user's standpoint. And do the developer
> docs really need
> 'end user'? To the developer, that's the user. If an API
> function can be used to
> prompt the end user or address another API function then:
> "With option 1, the
> function prompts the user.", "With option 2, the function
> passes information
> to...". No need for end user.
Like I said above. In my original post, I gave a specific example from an
API. I explained the context. That's all. I mentioned no other
documentation, not because it doesn't exist but because it simply isn't
germane to the example.
This is a clear case of "it depends," and broadening the scope of the
argument isn't going to affect that. Suffice it to say that I can
distinguish between users intending to work in Visual C++ and users that
aren't, and our products can be used by people with no desire to write
programs. I create documentation accordingly. That was not my point,
however.
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