@tapeworm wrote:
@tenzip wrote:
The guy on the dock might not be the best choice, but at least send the person that is assigned the task to some technical writing courses, or, at a minimum, have them read a book about it.
No, this is absolutely the wrong thing to do (in my opinion anyway)! The common, ordinary Mr. John Q. Public does not want a manual written by someone who has taken ‘technical writing’ courses. This is what is causing the issue in the first place! The ordinary person has not taken these technical writing course, and so can not understand when something is written that way.
The manuals need to be written by someone who has not had any technical training, writing or otherwise. As long as they know how to operate the device, and can tell someone else how to so it, that’s all that is necessary. Plain simple language that is easy to understand by anyone. Just tell me how the gizmo works, what the options are, what they do, why I might want to change them and how to do it . . . in that order.
I think whoever is writing these things are 1.) over-thinking the project, 2.) wanting to show off their ‘technical writing’ skills, and 3.) forgetting who their target audience is. It is NOT the egg-heads that sat next to them in that technical writing course.
But I digress, and the thread is wavering off-topic.
The bolded portion in your reply IS technical writing, IMO. Making clear, concise, unambiguous instructions. Not assuming that the person you are writing it for has any experience at all with anything in particular. Saying “right-click on the button that says OK…” instead of just saying “click OK.”
Writing for technical readers is a whole other can of worms.
The “egg-heads” I sat next to were mostly engineering students, and didn’t get the whole thrust of the course, which was to be able to have your great aunt Edna be able to program her VCR without wanting to commit suicide. That’s the problem.
Edit: As far as off-topic, the question was answered in the second post, so it’s kinda moot at this point.
Message Edited by tenzip on 04-26-2009 04:03 PM
