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All,
This is a most interesting topic. I have a degree in Engineering and not in
English or some other "communications" area, so I have a different
perspective.
Sue made an interesting point about the dialog box: yes/no buttons versus a
"fill in the blank" prompt. It seems to me the problems along this line are
verbal technical communication problems. This is especially interesting to
me as I write what is often called "courseware" for lack of a better term.
Anyway, I can see both sides of Sue's point. (Although I'd love to have
some dialog boxes physically hit some users in the face...) My favorite
version of this is the student who picked up her mouse and placed it on the
video display when told to "place the mouse on the icon".
Just out of curiosity, Sue, what would you have said had you been the
programmer?
The recent discussion of "Tools" has been interesting, too. I really agree
with (I'm sorry, I forget, darn) who said that technical writers should be
both technical and writers, and that an individual can be taught specific
tools.
This is all tied together. Maybe the need is for classes on "Talking to
Tekkies" or something. Do those of you who work for larger companies have
sessions where the writers meet with developers? [As a freelancer my
environment is different.]
