Too many tables in documentation

Subject: Too many tables in documentation
From: Heidi Margenau <Heidi_Margenau/USG -at- USGROUP -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 12:22:46 -0400

Hello everyone

My department has been struggling over the issue of using field and
description plus procedural tables in our documentation.

Here is our problem:

We are documenting a payroll/hr software application which uses many
windows, tabs and pages. Each window (or screen) has to be documented for
paper and online help reasons (we use doc-to-help). To define what's on
each screen, we first have a field and description table and then later in
the section we have a procedural table (step/action) that guides the user
through any action that has to be carried out for that screen. Since our
documentation is somewhat screen driven, it is turning into all tables. We
have looked through all types of different documentation related to our
field, and no one seems to be running into this problem. (Their procedures,
if any, are buried within paragraphs and field/description screens are also
described in paragraph format.)

Any feedback on how to solve this problem, or if you know the current
trends for field/description plus procedural tables within user guides
would be greatly appreciated

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