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I disagree. While tastes in light reading vary widely, people
everywhere appreciate instructions that get to the point. I daresay
your search for "culturally bound" traffic signs might be rather
futile--to give an example, albeit an extreme one. Further, "concise"
does not necessarily imply "austere."
There is a parallel between constructing a technical document and
editing a novel: if a given bit does not contribute to the objectives
of the piece, it should be removed. When the objectives are teaching a
complex subject to newcomers, what is essential may be far more
detailed and varied than if the objective were to show average users
how to employ a program or a piece of hardware to do their job.
I remember my high school English teacher when he used a rather pithy
definition of writing clarity: "It should be like a lady's skirt--long
enough to cover the subject but short enough to be interesting!"
David
On 8/2/05, imac <tarage -at- bellsouth -dot- net> wrote:
> A quick note, here -- concise and clear are culturally-bound. Not all
> cultures value concise documentation, and concise is not always the best
> tool in your toolbox. I say this because "technical writing" often
> includes writing non-technical documentation, as well; and actually, I can see user guides benefitting from many examples that an otherwise concise and austere style would leave out.
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