Re: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

User/application/environment-dependent.  I haven't written a "click OK" 
procedure for a user-guide-type product document since the 90's. The 
typical user instructions for most of the products I've documented will 
say something like "The <insert screen title> screen enters the 
configuration parameters for <insert name of operation here>," because 
our intended users do not need to have any of the parameters explained 
to them and would probably be insulted if we tried.  The only product 
documents we write with that detailed, click-by-click structure are 
certain procedural instructions and checklists that are mandated to be 
written and used that way (it will never be time to kill task-oriented 
docs for pilots, aircraft mechanics, weapons handlers, powerplant 
operators, etc.)

OTOH, when I jot off internal office instructions on how to set up 
things like Word templates or VPN connections, our own people, including 
software engineers, always seem to need that level of handholding.  Go 
figure.

Gene Kim-Eng



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Despopoulos" <despopoulos_chriss -at- yahoo -dot- com>
> But the ubiquity of the technology leads to something I really want to 
> discuss...  Is it finally time to kill task-oriented docs and get down 
> to explaining what the various GUI fields actually *mean*? 

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