SOFTWARE DOCS: Is the reference section passe?

[Peggy Thomson <Peggy_Thompson -at- CCMAIL -dot- OSTI -dot- GOV>]

 ATTENTION WRITERS OF SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION:

 I need your thoughtful replies! With the proliferation of point
 and click systems, is the old distinction between tutorial
 material and reference material passe? When we documented
 command-line systems a few yrs ago, our big manual was divided
 into Tutorial and Reference, as suggested by most writers of
 software document development methodologies.

 Now, we document each task a menu system is supposed to perform,
 and each task is a topic, and each topic, in turn, is a words-
 and picture-module in the manual. The old division of Tutorial
 and Reference just doesn't seem to make sense anymore--the user
 looks up a module the first time, to learn how to perform a
 task, then relies on the menu after that. Then maybe, as a
 refresher, he looks up that module later. So therefore, the
 modules are more truly reference material than tutorial
 material.

 Note: we don't write multiple manuals (customer dictate)--a
 user's guide and a reference guide--so suggestions of a two-book
 approach won't work for us. And anyway, with a menu system, how
 would you know what to put in each book?

 Another note: we have a separate Getting Started section, which
 tells you how to get in and how to navigate. And we have
 appendices for lists of fields, esoteric procedures, lengthy
 tabular material, etc.