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Subject:Re: FONT STANDARDS From:"Michael West" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com> To:techwr-l Date:Wed, 18 Feb 2004 08:00:11 +1100
Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> [...]
> But as this exchange illustrates, it can be dangerous to
> assume that your reader will understand a short description that
> doesn't spell out your intended message to the smallest detail.
In technical writing it is always dangerous to assume that.
It is particularly risky in this case, because I often see
help text or other software so-called "documentation" that
does exactly the sort of thing I was calling attention to;
that is, simply repeats or describes what is already visible
on the screen, providing no further assistance.
So clearly there are tech writers out there who think that
is a smart thing to do. I'm glad you're not one of them.
--
Michael West