Re: FAQs - Good or bad?

[Jeffrey Osier-Mixon <jefro -at- jefro -dot- net>]

Anecdotally, I have noticed that most technical writers dislike the FAQ 
format, most sales and marketing folks like it, and most engineers 
couldn't care one way or the other because they don't plan on reading it 
regardless of format.   But my experience (14 years) could easily be too 
small a sampling.

Personally, I dislike the FAQ format because there are so many better 
ways to get information---such as search engines, where one can ask 
one's own question and base the results on keywords.  When I see an FAQ 
I feel forced to conform my question to how I think someone else might 
have asked, and the answers very often are tangential to what I want to 
know.  Give me a good well-structured reference manual and a search 
engine any day.

Here's an idea... write the well-structured manual with a good index, 
put a search engine on the front, and /call/ it a self-driven FAQ.  Type 
your question, and look!  Many potential answers just pop right up!


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

New from Quadralay Corporation: WebWorks ePublisher Pro!
Completely XML-based online publishing. Easily create 14 online formats, including 6 Help systems, in a streamlined project-based workflow. Word version ships in June, FrameMaker version ships in July. Sign up for a live, online demo! http://www.webworks.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- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.