Re: Variety in Tech Writing (was: Display, Displays, or Appears)

[Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>]

Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> Perhaps I was unclear.  This is the exact same choice
> of reactions I would have if there was a statement that
> said "The Print dialog box appears" and then it didn't.

If the entire chain of trust between you and the tech writer is down, 
then that's a different problem. I would take it as time to get rid of 
the tech writer providing untrustworthy procedures, or time to stop 
buying products with buggy docs, or time to get with the vendors and 
adjust the relationship.

My concern for providing a result description is more along the lines of 
a step that has a result but gives no feedback when executed. I want the 
step to tell me where to look and see if it succeeded or not.

I don't see any good reason not to make the result statement a standard 
part of a step, if only for the training benefit that comes with 
consistency and knowing what to expect from the documentation.

Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com


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