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:Requoting other companies' docs in your own docs From:Bevan Mccabe <BMccabe -at- ALTIO -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 22 Jan 2001 15:05:55 -0000
Hi,
I've been asked to write an installation manual for 2 other software
products (a web server and some kind of java browser modification/scripting
thingimy) which are necessary to install before installing my company's
software.
Neither of these products is sold with our software. Both of these products
come with their own installation manual. Each of these products can be
installed with a variety of others, and therefore their manuals go into
quite a lot of depth about all the different combinations and
configurations.
However, for my purposes, I'm not interested in all these other
configurations. I just want to have the installation instructions for these
2 products alone, as they need to be configured in one certain manner in
order to work with our software.
As I see it, I have a few options:
1. Copy the instructions directly from the other companies manuals - just
the relevant parts and nothing else.
Problems: I don't know whether I can legally do this. Do I need to ask those
companies' permission, or just put a note in that these have been copied? I
am writing in the UK, but copying from US manuals intended for a US
audience. My product is intended for a US audience.
Also, if new versions of these companies products come out, I will have a
lot more work involved in updating my docs to correct them.
Also, there's a chance I could miss some important notes included in another
part of their docs.
2. Create a short manual with hyperlinks to the appropriate sections in the
2 external manuals.
Problems: One of these is in PDF format and can't be linked to (unless there
is something I don't know about PDFs here).
3. Create a short manual with instructions on which sections to look for on
the other 2 manuals.
Problems: My boss might think I haven't done very much work and just taken
the easy way out. I can probably talk him out of this perception, though :)
Does anyone have an opinion on which is the best option? Is there a better
one that I haven't thought of?
If anyone can direct me to appropriate search terms for the archives in lieu
of a direct reply, that would be fine too. I've tried a variety of terms to
no avail.
Thanks for any help you can offer,
Bevan McCabe
Technical Author
Altio Limited mailto:bmccabe -at- altio -dot- com
www.altio.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-Based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 ($100 STC Discount)
**WEST COAST LOCATIONS** San Jose (Mar 1-2), San Francisco (Apr 16-17) http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Sponsored by DigiPub Solutions Corp, producers of PDF 2001
Conference East, June 4-5, Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. http://www.pdfconference.com or toll-free 877/278-2131.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
