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:fire guide From:Miki Magyar <MDM0857 -at- MCDATA -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 3 Dec 1998 13:02:57 -0700
David Dick asked how to structure a user guide for building fire prevention/fighting stuff.
The usual questions -
Who's going to be reading this document?
When will they read it - during training, during a fire, two days before annual review...?
Why will they read it?
What questions does the document answer?
The best approach I've found is to list all the questions your audience is asking, then order the questions. Be sure to include the questions you want them to ask. Only then do I start filling in content. It is often useful to make the questions explicit, as section headings. For example, "Where are fire extinguishers located?" <Section head> "First floor" <sub-head> and so on.
Then test the outline with perhaps one or two sentences in each section to see if an actual user can do what they need to do with it.
Hope this helps. Let us know what you decide.
Pax,
Miki
mikim -at- ieee -dot- org
Boycott xma$ - celebrate a non-commercial holy day!
