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Subject:Re: Help with Help From:"Gehres, Mary Elizabeth (Betsy)** CTR **" <gehres -at- LUCENT -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 3 Feb 1999 09:04:07 -0700
<< How do you plan a Help Project. What steps do you take before you begin
writing? I'm feeling grossly disorganized and without direction (two feeling
that drive me up a wall). Can anyone suggest a site or some reading that
might help? >>
I like William Horton's "Designing and Writing Online Documentation" for a
basic book on designing online help systems. It has good examples of how to
storyboard the structure of your help system--great for planning. Also, a
class on the tool you're using would be helpful.
And as one other member said, don't panic. The skills you have as an
information designer and writer of paper-based documentation translate quite
nicely to producing online help. Really. Once you get going, it's pretty
easy (depending on the tool you're using, of course).
Betsy Gehres
gehres -at- lucent -dot- com
(303) 290-3495
