Re: Silly but important to me - another twist

Subject: Re: Silly but important to me - another twist
From: eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 10:42:19 -0400


As we write procedures for heavy equipment, I understand exactly what
you're asking. However, the actual formatting and organisation we use
changes depending on our client's wishes, so I suppose the answer is "It
depends."

If you want to develop an internal style guide, I would say that it is far
more important that you are consistent than how exactly the information is
presented.

The only observation I can make is I probably disagree with the first and
third constructions as they put the supporting text after the result. For
a trained or experienced technician, the supporting text is usually
superfluous. All they'd be interested in is action and result. Most
supporting text in procedures in my experience belongs in a note either
before of after the step. Before the step if the information is required
to perform the step and after the step if the information describes the
result or is not otherwise critical to the action.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

---
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:

References:
Re: Silly but important to me - another twist: From: TecWriter1

Previous by Author: Re: and then
Next by Author: Re: Silly but important to me - another twist
Previous by Thread: Re: Silly but important to me - another twist
Next by Thread: Re: Silly but important to me - another twist


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads