Re: Great Technical Manuals from Canon! (Was - Re: Tech writers stillnecessary, but performing poorly)

["Kathleen MacDowell" <kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com>]

Hey Jennifer,

It is really great to find a good product and good documentation, and I
think it's a wonderful idea for you to express your appreciation--we all
should when we luck out that way!!

My suggestions:

Write a brief snail-mail letter to the President, based on what  you said
here :-) (Maybe those of us looking for work could write Cannon and tell
them we'd like to work for them, as they treat the customer right and must
have a great doc department :-)

Another  idea might be to go to one of the places that sells cameras and
collects reviews for them, say Amazon (does Amazon sell cameras?), and put
your comments in there with a million stars. I'm guessing really good
reviews might get picked up by search engines.

I've been pondering doing something similar  to warn people against using
some of the pay- as-you-go phone services (or at least the one I've been
using). It's almost an ethical issue--they really aren't providing the
service they sell, which I feel should be known. On the other hand, I'm
currently feeling very cautious about negativity.

Thanks for the doubly good consumer/tw news!!

Kathleen

On 8/22/07, Jennifer C. Bennett <fritillary -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > Today, you've got the same kinds of people that once bought the box
> > cameras buying gadgets equipped with hundreds of functions and perhaps
> > thousands of ways of using them.  Given that complexity, a simple 10 or
> 20
> > page pamphlet isn't going to teach you everything you can do with such
> > devices, illustrated or not.  It's going to take a lot of information to
> > do so properly.  But even if you provide such documentation in a clear
> and
> > relatively concise manner, put together using all your technical writing
> > know-how, you're still going to find a lot of consumers that just don't
> > have the patience to seek out the information they need in that
> > documentation as part of the process of learning how to use their new
> > gadgets.  Yet the same consumers will be some of
>
> <snip>
>
> I've got to commend Canon and their documentation for their PowerShot
> A640/A640 camera.  It came with TWO manuals, a 33 page Basic camera guide,
> (in totally separate English and Spanish versions) and a 145 page Advanced
> camera manual (also in totally separate English and Spanish versions).  It
> was advertised as a camera that is easy enough to use for the beginner,
> but
> has options that will satisfy the beginner who wants to eventually become
> more creative with his or her photography skills.  The manual parallels
> these statements.  Awesome!  Reading all these messages has given me the
> impetus to write an e-mail to Canon and do that commending I was talking
> about!
>
> Note:  I just checked their site, and there are no "general feedback"
> contacts, and I'm not sure if Support, Sales, or Site Feedback would be
> appropriate, what do you Techwhirlers think?  Maybe I should write a
> letter?
> If so, I don't know who to direct such a letter to.
>
> As a tech writer, I've never received feedback on any of my documentation.
> And I've always been a lone writer, so no peer feedback.  I'd like to
> somehow notify Canon that I appreciate the care they put into their
> manuals.
>
> And the camera is awesome too, by the way, and well-priced!  :)
>
> Jennifer
>
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-- 
Kathleen MacDowell
www.writefortheuser.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

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