Re: Which style of giving instructions is more effective?

[Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Condition must precede action.


On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 12:24 PM, Ryan Pollack <ryan -at- clicksecurity -dot- com>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm debating the merits of two different styles of commands:
>
> "Enter the following command to restart the device:"
>
> (followed by the command itself)
>
> and
>
> "Restart the device by entering the following command:"
>
> (followed by the command itself)
>
> I've been flipping back & forth on these for years; now that I am creating
> a new documentation set, I'd like to be consistent, if that is even
> possible (or desirable).
>
> Any thoughts on the relative merits of each style? Situations when either
> would be useful? etc.
>
> Thanks for your input!
>
> --
>
> Ryan Pollack
> Senior Technical Writer | Click Security
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including
> Mobile and EPUB.
>
> Read all about them: http://bit.ly/doc-to-help-10-outputs
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
> info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications?  Head over to our online
> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions?  Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>



-- 
Bill Swallow
Writing and Content Strategy Consultant
http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including Mobile and EPUB.

Read all about them: http://bit.ly/doc-to-help-10-outputs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


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

Looking for articles on Technical Communications?  Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions?  Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives