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Subject:RE: Question marks in titles From:"Damien Braniff" <Damien -dot- Braniff -at- asg -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 1 Feb 2005 15:44:04 -0000
A good FAQ is like a good index - if it's well done then it's VERY
useful. To do it well you need to know your audience and the type of
questions they're likely to be asking.
I see an index as being a bit like a map - give one to some people and
they'll find where to go. Others, however, will still stop and ask the
way!
Perhaps it's a matter of confidence? Laziness? One place I worked had
excellent documentation and the RFTM cry often went up from tech support
- they wanted to be told see page xx rather than look it up.
An FAQ added to the doc (consisting of pared down info and refs to the
manual) covering the most common queries received dramatically cut calls
to tech support. It just so happened that that was the particular
structure that the users found easy to use.
Damien Braniff | Technical Writer
damienb -at- asg -dot- com
Technical Communications
ASG | asg.com
Waterfront Plaza
8, Lagan Bank Road,
Belfast, N. Ireland BT1 3LR
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