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Re: waking up to the world of Technical WritingThe fortunate tech writers are increasingly involved in development of the I think this is a *very* shaky analogy, but I'll try to stick with it. A poorly designed instrument panel makes you look all over the place, peer around the steering wheel to see the speedometer or gas guage, and generally spend much too long with your eyes *off* the road. A well designed instrument panel makes it easy for you to take in all the information you need in the least possible time. I enjoy having a say in the design of the instrument panel...along with the placement and ease of use of the rear-view mirrors, the steering wheel, the seat adjustment mechanisms, the music system controls, and all the other things that might otherwise distract me from the primary task: staying between the stripes. It strikes me that the Clearly we have different definitions of "user experience." For me, it includes every moment the user is interacting with the software, from before installation through the last time she shuts it down. ...book here just stands in for whatever medium of instruction we are "Foisting"? I don't foist anything on the user. I make the UI as intuitive as possible and, where it's needed, I make additional information as accessible as possible. That's not "foisting," that's "supporting." My objection is to all the forms of look-at-me Again, we must have different definitions of "user experience." In my experience, the UI is about 97% of the user experience. Also, who said anything at about "look-at-me intrusion"? I'll bet you haven't seen anything I've created, so let's avoid the generalizations, shall we? It is the sort of thinking that leads to Clippy and Microsoft Bob. Horsefeathers.
Who the heck are you to tell me why I'm interested in UI design?! I think a tech writer who gets to do what I do is fortunate for a couple of reasons: (1) I really like what I do. (2) I'm more valuable to my client or employer if I can help design the application in a way that makes it easier to use, so the user doesn't have to constantly refer to online help or user's guide to figure it out, especially since most of them don't bother--they just call Support, which costs a *lot* more money than if the investment in good design is made at the beginning of the process. As for "self-loathing"...whoa. Don't lay *your* problem on *me*, pal! I do what I do because I like it, I'm pretty good at it, and people pay me really well to do it for them or advise them on how to do it.
Yet another *really* shaky analogy...cute, but hardly apropos. --David ========================================================================= A V A I L A B L E N O W ! http://www.html-indexer.com HTML Indexer is still the easiest way to create and maintain real indexes for web sites, intranets, HTML Help, JavaHelp, and other HTML documents. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION: RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo From a single set of Word documents, create online Help and printeddocumentation with ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 7 Professional, a new yearly subscription service offering free updates and upgrades, support, and more. http://www.doctohelp.com --- You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archiver -at- techwr-l -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. Follow-Ups:
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Re: waking up to the world of Technical Writing
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