RE: Speaking of Design Standards...

["Joe Malin" <jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com>]

I don't have any written standards, yet.

I try to organize help screens by information type. The types I use are
* Procedural
* Conceptual
* Reference

For a program's UI, I usually confine reference information to
context-sensitive help that is immediately available from a dialog box
button or F1. For web apps, I propose that the Help button on a
particular page goes to reference info for that page, with additional
links to the TOC, Index, search, and so forth.

I find that the hardest type to "chunk" is conceptual and borderline
conceptual/procedural information. Describing the concepts behind a
state-of-the-art Model-View-Controller web application framework is not
easy! 

I have only worked with JavaHelp and OHJ/OHW, which are mostly
browser-independent. Your design standards should account for the
environment most of your customers have.

Joe


Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com 
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.	

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jmalin=tuvox -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jmalin=tuvox -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of RMinaker -at- cds -dot- ca
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 11:10 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Speaking of Design Standards...

Speaking of design standards. I'm currently in the process of
researching design standards specifically related to online help files
(e.g., FrameMaker documents generated through web works). Can anyone
recommend any resources? I'm interested to know about how people are
chunking their documents, what screen resolution they are designing for,
what browsers their help files support, how they are using links etc.


Any suggestions would be appreciated,

Thanks!

R.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy.  Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

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