TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Multiple options for action? From:Rose Wilcox <RWILC -at- FAST -dot- DOT -dot- STATE -dot- AZ -dot- US> Date:Wed, 18 Oct 1995 09:39:00 PDT
I've seen a lot of good ideas on this post. I also want to mention
minimalist documentation. You could choose to document only one option for
action throughout your manual. You would, of course, tell your users that
you have chosen to do this and probably give them pointers for exploring on
their own. This option is most appropriate for home PC users with some
computer expertise who you can expect to experiment with the PC in their
spare time and find the other ways of doing things if they want to.
The other appropriate place for such documentation is a training manual.
When training, you do not want to overwhelm your audience with options.
Teach 'em one way to do it so as to not overload them with to much
information to absorb in a day.
Rose A. Wilcox (The "A" stands for "Alternatives")
rwilc -at- fast -dot- dot -dot- state -dot- az -dot- us
ncrowe -at- primenet -dot- com
