RE: Finding errors in manuals

["Condo, Candis" <ccondo -at- c-cor -dot- com>]

At the start of my career, I once had a senior writer tell me that I
could open almost any page of a manual (we were printing books back
then) and I could find an error. Welcome to the human race!

I usually fess right up to whomever needs to know and write a bug
against the doc. If it is an online doc, I fix the doc, recreate the pdf
file and post it wherever appropriate. If it is online help, I check in
with dev to see if they are going to do one more build (unexpected of
course) and if so, I then check in the new help files (since I
single-source the doc, I fix the source files once and everything else
falls into place). If dev balks at update the help files, I explain the
problem. If QA does not think the error is worth correcting in the new
build, I eat my pride and the error goes out. If, on the other hand, the
error is one that I think will cause users real trouble, I will press
hard for the correction. Fortunately, that has not happened too often in
my career and usually QA sees my point about the correction.

Candis L. Condo

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+ccondo=c-cor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+ccondo=c-cor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Michelle Vina-Baltsas
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 1:13 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Finding errors in manuals

I just found an error in one of the manuals I work on and I feel sick. 
Fortunately, the error does not pose the user any danger but it looks
bad. 
What do you all do when this happens? I'm having a bad case of the "I'm 
not perfect" blues.

Michelle
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats
or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007

Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

Now shipping: Help & Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor,
full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
to 106 languages with Help & Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as ccondo -at- c-cor -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/ccondo%40c-cor.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

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

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

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

Now shipping: Help & Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor,
full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
to 106 languages with Help & Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

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