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.
I write all the manuals for an RDBMS. When writing the low-end user
manuals, I found it was important to ignore the inner workings of the
system. I needed to think like a beginner. When I started writing the
system manual, I really had to delve into the inner workings of the
system because I needed to think like an administrator. Depends on
your audience I do believe.
Melonie Holliman
ABM Data Systems, Inc.
Austin, TX
mailto: mrh -at- abmdata -dot- com
In a message dated 6/30/98 2:53:26 PM Central Daylight Time,
kking -at- BROOKTROUT -dot- COM writes:
> For those of you who document software applications, how much of what
> you do is documenting the GUI and how much of it is documenting the
> underlying structure, the means by which the GUI is implemented? In
> other words, how important is it, do you think, for tech writers to
> understand the inner workings of the software?
>