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TWs will be needed, but in a different role. We will no longer be
explaining a simple interface to the end user, but making that
interface better and explaining its back end to those who must use it.
I call this "The Macintosh Effect": the more we try to hide away
complexity behind interface, the more helpless we make both
inexperienced users (who now know nothing of the theory behind the
device they're using) and power users (who cannot access the settings
they need which are cleverly hidden behind overpowered UI design).
Even if the device is terribly simple, we're going to be able to
document its idiosyncracies or make it better.
Convincing employers of that might be difficult however...
--- Lauren <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu> wrote:
> If applications, like
> checkout
> registers, are being designed to be so "user-friendly" that they
> don't need
> documentation and that the interface will walk users through without
> effort,
> then is it possible that software applications that are typically
> supported
> with documentation will, in many cases, make documentation obsolete?
> Will
> technical writers become obsolete for certain types of
> "user-friendly"
> documentation?
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