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It pays to take a step back and remind ourselves of why people consult
our documentation: the vast majority are not doing it for the pleasure
of reading, and pretending that they are can lead us astray.
Most people turn to the docs for one reason only, and only when they
absolutely have to do so: to help them solve a problem or accomplish
something. When they do, they may be highly stressed (e.g., the
software crashed or they're under time pressure), frustrated (e.g., the
software refuses to do what they're convinced it should do when they
act in a certain way), angry (e.g., the software doesn't work the way
the docs say it should), etc. They are emphatically not curling up by
the fire to read the docs the same way they'd read a novel. _Of course_
the documentation is boring: there are no characters, jokes, or
plotlines, and the graphics are uninteresting (it's not a comic book).
The obvious exception is documentation for things such as games that
are used for relaxation or pleasure. There, it pays to be entertaining
because that's part of the audience context. But even then, you have to
clearly distinguish between the body of the docs, which can be amusing
or absorbing, and the "something bad just happened and I need to fix
it" parts. The latter must be deadly dull and serious, since I've seen
many people go ballistic when they are stressed and read what appears
to be disrespectful or facetious writing.
Can a hybrid approach (less boring) work? The "For Dummies" books prove
that it can--for a very narrowly defined audience. The fact that these
books sell in the millions tells us that documentation _can_ be more
exciting than a telephone directory. However, the fact that a goodly
number of techwhirlers in this list recently reported being annoyed by
these books and feeling patronized is also clear evidence that there
are risks in taking this approach.
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