Re: Are Tech Writers Valid anymore Re: ghost town

Subject: Re: Are Tech Writers Valid anymore Re: ghost town
From: "Janoff, Steven" <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- ga -dot- com>
To: "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, "ginger -dot- moskowitz -at- kaba -dot- com" <ginger -dot- moskowitz -at- kaba -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 09:09:48 -0800

On Friday, February 21, 2014 7:29 AM, ginger -dot- moskowitz -at- kaba -dot- com wrote:
> Isn't web design focused on mobile apps now...or designs that can work on both a PC and a mobile device? ...

I don't see that mobile/tablet/smartphone is all the much of a leap beyond desktop/laptop -- still using something of a desktop metaphor (slightly modified), and from a tech writing standpoint, you're using newer words like tap, swipe, and pinch instead of the older items like click, select, etc.

The iPad/iPhone user guides are not that different from the user guides I remember from the 1990's.

Touch interfaces seem to be only about input as the difference. The manual tells how to operate the interface. We've been documenting point-and-click (now tap-and-swipe) interfaces since I guess the 1980's when there were only command line interfaces. As I recall, CLI documentation was pretty easy. So until devices and their interfaces go beyond the desktop metaphor that we're still using (and again, I don't think touch screen goes beyond that), we're basically writing the same instructions over and over again, with mild variation. You could put the whole thing in a big CMS and probably cover most of our jobs.

Steve

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Doc-To-Help: new website, content widgets, and an output that works on any screen.

Learn more: http://bit.ly/1eRs4NS

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

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


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: RE: Are Tech Writers Valid anymore Re: ghost town
Next by Author: RE: Are Tech Writers Valid anymore Re: ghost town
Previous by Thread: Re: Greasy fingerprints (was Re: Are Tech Writers Valid anymore)
Next by Thread: Re: Are Tech Writers Valid anymore Re: ghost town


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads