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Subject:Too much or too little? From:Linnea Dodson <tscribe -at- HOTMAIL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 4 Feb 1999 07:13:26 PST
I've been buried in writing the same instruction manual for so long I'm
starting to lose perspective, so I'm asking your advice.
My intended audience is military personnel. My assumptions section
includes the statement "this document assumes the reader is familiar
with finding specific directories and files using Windows Explorer."
Later in the document, I have the instructions:
1) Open Windows Explorer
2) Double-click c:\directory1\directory2\filename
Is this enough, or do you think I should break it down further into:
1) Open Windows Explorer
2) In Explorer, open c
3) Open directory1
4) Open directory2
3) Double-click filename
This is already a long document, full of multi-step instructions for
working a rather complex program. I'm afraid that if I take the latter
approach, the number of steps will increase exponentially and the
document will grow out of control. I also think it sounds patronizing.
However, if the former set of instructions isn't clear enough, then
there's no other choice.
Nea Dodson
who is speaking for herself and not for her company
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