Re: Should I document this feature?

[Jimmy Breck-McKye <jb527 -at- hotmail -dot- co -dot- uk>]

In the ideal world, of course, the documentation and design groups would 
always work together to create a UI both intuitive and easy to articulate...

On 07/08/10 01:43, Meryl R. Cohen wrote:
> My call would be to speak to your software dev folks. If users shouldn't use
> these menu items unless they are talking with tech support then they should
> not be visible and live in the menu. They should require the user to enter a
> weird keyboard combination (or something else you can't do by accident)
> provided by tech support before the menu items show up.
>
> Hopefully you work in the kind of company where doc people are allowed to
> comment on software UI issues.
>
> Meryl
>
> On Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 4:36 PM, Keith Hood<klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com>  wrote:
>
>    
>> Document everything at the same level of granularity. Because just as sure
>> as you don't, someone will find himself needing to do it, and then he will
>> go "Why the ! -at- #$ didn't you tell me?"  Or if you document these things but
>> more briefly than other things, he'll complain that you aren't giving him
>> enough information.  He may be wrong, but he'll complain anyway, and then
>> you have a CRM problem.
>>
>> Since these are not everyday functions, you should make that plain in the
>> writeups about them, and separate them from the rest of the documentation.
>> Put them in a separate chapter of the book, or in an "Advanced Functions"
>> book in the help system menu, or something like that.
>>
>>
>> --- On Fri, 8/6/10, Joe Weinmunson<litlfrog -at- gmail -dot- com>  wrote:
>>
>> From: Joe Weinmunson<litlfrog -at- gmail -dot- com>
>> Subject: Should I document this feature?
>> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> Date: Friday, August 6, 2010, 10:22 AM
>>
>> At startup, our program looks for a license file in the application
>> directory. That license controls what features of the program are
>> activated for the user and how many users can access the program at
>> the same time. There are three menu functions that involve the
>> license: updating, reading license information, and copying a license
>> from one file to another. However, I can't think of any situation
>> where the end user can or should be using those menu functions if
>> they're not on the phone with tech support anyway. Should I leave
>> those commands out of the documentation completely? Explain what each
>> one does? Or take some kind of middle road? Thanks.
>>
>> --
>> Joe Weinmunson
>>
>> Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or
>> believe to be beautiful.
>> --William Morris
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> Gain access to everything you need to create and publish information
>> through multiple channels. Your choice of authoring (and import)
>> formats with virtually any output. Try Doc-To-Help free for 30-days.
>> http://www.doctohelp.com/
>>
>> LavaCon 2010 in San Diego Sept 29 - Oct 2 is now open for registration.
>>     Use referral code TECHWR-L for $50 off conference tuition!
>>            See program at: http://lavacon.org/
>>
>>
>> ---
>> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com -dot- 
>>
>> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> or visit
>> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/klhra%40yahoo.com
>>
>>
>> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>>
>> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
>> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>>
>> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
>> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> Gain access to everything you need to create and publish information
>> through multiple channels. Your choice of authoring (and import)
>> formats with virtually any output. Try Doc-To-Help free for 30-days.
>> http://www.doctohelp.com/
>>
>> LavaCon 2010 in San Diego Sept 29 - Oct 2 is now open for registration.
>>    Use referral code TECHWR-L for $50 off conference tuition!
>>           See program at: http://lavacon.org/
>>
>>
>> ---
>> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as merylster -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
>>
>> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> or visit
>> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/merylster%40gmail.com
>>
>>
>> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>>
>> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
>> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>>
>> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
>> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>>
>>
>>      
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Gain access to everything you need to create and publish information
> through multiple channels. Your choice of authoring (and import)
> formats with virtually any output. Try Doc-To-Help free for 30-days.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/
>
> LavaCon 2010 in San Diego Sept 29 - Oct 2 is now open for registration.
>     Use referral code TECHWR-L for $50 off conference tuition!
>            See program at: http://lavacon.org/
>
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as jb527 -at- hotmail -dot- co -dot- uk -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/jb527%40hotmail.co.uk
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>
>
>    

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Gain access to everything you need to create and publish information 
through multiple channels. Your choice of authoring (and import)
formats with virtually any output. Try Doc-To-Help free for 30-days. 
http://www.doctohelp.com/

LavaCon 2010 in San Diego Sept 29 - Oct 2 is now open for registration.  
   Use referral code TECHWR-L for $50 off conference tuition! 
          See program at: http://lavacon.org/


---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat