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.
Subject:RE: Don't say what you CANNOT do in documents From:"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:20 Apr 2004 16:36:15 GMT
A bit of advice that I often give my staff is never tell
people you can't do something they want, but rather tell
them what they need to do to make it possible for you
to do it, because if they hear "can't do that" coming
out of your mouth often enough, that'll become their
impression of you. Your PM may be thinking about
the product the same way. Since you go on to describe
the process for creating a query with multiple criteria
(I'm guessing, is what you really mean that you can't
create a query with multiple criteria within a single
activity?), there is obviously a way to do it, so your
instructions should describe the correct procedure to
accomplish what the user wants to do rather than making
the user read about ways it can't be done.
OTOH, if you're talking about a situation where there
really is *no* way to accomplish something, then "that
function is not supported in this release" or something
similar is probably unavoidable.
Gene Kim-Eng
------- Original Message -------
On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:23:01 -0400 John Posada wrote:
"Note: You cannot build complex queries with multiple criteria since
there is no way to store a criteria while you add another. To create a
query using more than one criteria, you must first create an activity
(see page 23)."
Assuming you know what the terms mean, what are the feelings about
putting something you cannot do in a document. The PM says it gives the
wrong impression. I say it doesn't give an impression one way or
another...it is just an instruction.
ROBOHELP X5 - ALL NEW VERSION. Now with Word 2003 support, Content
Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more!
Now is the best time to buy - special end of month promos, including:
$100 mail-in rebate; Free online orientation on content management
functionality; Huge savings on support and future product releases;
PLUS Great discounts on RoboHelp training. OFFER EXPIRES April 30th!
Call 1-800-358-9370 or visit: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -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.