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The last part of my checklist was quite short, because I wanted to post this
part as a whole.
To repeat it: This checklist is intended to define how you, as a writer of
online documentation, will interact with the programmers of your project.
Terminology
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E) Discuss the terminology to use in the message boxes, windows
and so on. Decide on a way to expand that vocabulary during the
project in a controlled way. Otherwise, different programming
teams will define different expressions for the same thing.
Remember, that many operating systems (e.g. OS/2 or Windows
ninety-something) allow full-text search all across the help
system.
F) Discuss terminology in general. E.g., Microsoft offers
terminology (and even standard translations) for free.
Sources of Microsoft Standard Terminology
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* Microsoft Developers' Network Forum on CompuServe (GO MSDN) in the
New Uploads library (library 1).
G) Define the terminology specific to your project. Remember
that full-text search can work only if you define terminology
thoroughly. Languages like German are especially prone to
producing variant spellings: "Donaudampfschiffahrtskapitan" is
long even by German standards, but would you like to write "Donau-
Dampfschiffahrtskapitan" or "Donaudampfschiffahrts-Kapitan"? Write
down lists and find ways to enforce the usage, e.g., through word
lists used in spelling checkers.
Any additions or clarifications for this?
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