RE: This too is technical communication

[Chris Borokowski <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

When I write instructions to anyone, no matter how
intelligent, I design for a clueless ingenue stumbling
onto the scene. Why? Documentation is read in a hurry,
scanned for data, and often is used in the midst of
utter chaos. It's not insulting their intelligence to
make it crystal clear, so long as you give
information. It is insulting their intelligence to
dumb it down, and hide away useful information because
it doesn't fit into a simplistic interface. (This was
why using MacOS 9 and Windows 3.1 was so painful.)

--- "Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com> wrote:

> If part of being a "professional clueless idiot"
> implies my editor's
> point of view -- assume that if there's any
> possibility readers can
> misconstrue a piece of writing, some definitely will
> -- then Mike is
> right on track. We certainly should be masters of
> clarity and lack of
> ambiguity. At the same time, as Stuart correctly
> indicates, we should
> not assume inferior intelligence or inability on the
> part of our readers
> to understand a concept clearly and comprehensively
> conveyed. 


User Interface design blog
http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/
Code::Design::UI::Consulting
http://www.dionysius.com/


       
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