Re: Placement of FAQ's

Subject: Re: Placement of FAQ's
From: David Neeley <dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 13:45:36 -0600


As in so much else, I believe "that depends" may be a correct answer.

If by FAQ you mean specific instructions for performing common tasks,
then there is certainly a place for that. Indexing needn't be a
problem, since we have been doing procedural guides from the
beginning, right? If your present doc sets have such procedures
included, how do you now index them? In fact, indexes are quite
simple, as one procedure may appear in many different index topics
without violating the usefulness of the index in the slightest.

Merely dressing it up and calling it a "FAQ" does not remove the
usefulness--and may give modern users a familiar paradigm that is
useful.

Other kinds of "common questions" should certainly be dealt with in
the document but may not deserve being treated separately in this way.

David



>
> The problem with putting info into a FAQ format is that it's hard to index by subject - it tends to cover many subjects on one page. For online use however, info in a FAQ may be returned in in a search on a specific subject. This option isn't available in a manual.

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

ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!

RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo

---
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- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



References:
RE: Placement of FAQ's: From: Neumann, Eileen

Previous by Author: Re: Hybrid document: user guide & training workbook
Next by Author: Re: Placement of FAQ's
Previous by Thread: RE: Placement of FAQ's
Next by Thread: RE: Placement of FAQ's


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


Sponsored Ads