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Subject:RE: Is there a study on reading warnings, notes? From:"Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com> To:"Shannon Wade" <SWade -at- daktronics -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:48:22 -0800
I got that. Perhaps I was unwittingly narrow minded in my comments. I was thinking from the perspective of on-line help (which primarily is what I've been doing for the past several years), where a user may never read front matter, but only jump into needed sections. Being a creature of the Age of the Internet, this too is how I tend to read printed manuals. It takes me all of my willpower to slog through warning pages, and I generally do so only when one of kids' health is at stake.
If your readers are more diligent (or obsessive), your strategy might be fine.
Leonard
-----Original Message-----
From: Shannon Wade [mailto:SWade -at- daktronics -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 11:27 AM
To: Leonard C. Porrello; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Is there a study on reading warnings, notes?
Extremely valid points. And I do appreciate your input. It's something I will take into consideration when crafting my documentation. However, perhaps I didn't make it clear enough that we are including, at the beginning of each manual, in big bold print, and the idea of hot pink paper has been jokingly thrown around, a list of the major safety warnings. Anything else that requires their attention will be addressed by the individual business units in their own list of cautions and warnings. We are not attempting to side-step the warnings, nor are we attempting to bury them. We are actually trying to draw more attention to them than they have had in the past.
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