RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question

Subject: RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question
From: "Chris Vickery" <cvickery -at- arenasolutions -dot- com>
To: "Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>, <kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:43:25 -0700

" do people think about chapter headings being slightly different from their corresponding TOC entry?"

I just had an issue with this...I'm implementing a new Help system, and I shortened some of the help topic links in the TOC so they wouldn't wrap in the TOC pane. Invariably, my testers thought the discrepancy between the text in the TOC and the title of the topic was a bug. I took that to mean users would be tripped up similarly.

__________________________________
Christopher Vickery
Technical Content Manager
Arena Solutions
cvickery -at- arenasolutions -dot- com
p. 650.513.3530 | m. 650.513.3500 | f. 650.513.3511

arenasolutions.com
4100 E. Third Ave., Suite 300, Foster City, CA 94404


-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+cvickery=arenasolutions -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+cvickery=arenasolutions -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Leonard C. Porrello
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:23 PM
To: kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com
Cc: TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question

On a similar note, what do people think about chapter headings being slightly different from their corresponding TOC entry? For example, would it be OK to have the following in the TOC:

Time Cards
Understanding
Creating
Viewing
Finding

And then have the following chapter headers:

Understanding Time Cards
Creating Time Cards
Viewing Time Cards
Finding Time Cards

???

Leonard

-----Original Message-----
From: kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com [mailto:kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:15 PM
To: Leonard C. Porrello
Cc: Robert Lauriston; TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; Robert Courtney
Subject: RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question


I think it's a fine idea to list the thing that is being created,
viewed, etc. for each heading. I've seen indexes with 6 or more
instances of "create," etc. I suppose if you're certain your index will
never do that, it would be ok to leave the topic off, but ...

Kathleen

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question
> From: "Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>
> Date: Tue, October 27, 2009 3:03 pm
> To: "Robert Lauriston" <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>,
> <TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, "Robert Courtney" <bobsc1 -at- earthlink -dot- net>
>
>
> What Lauriston says. Otherwise, the reader has to scan a gazillion instances of "How do I." AND, be careful not to mix verbs and nouns. Some people would say you should use either ...
>
> Understanding Time Cards
> Creating a Time Card
> Viewing a Time Card
> Finding a Time Card
>
> or ...
>
> Understand Time Cards
> Create a Time Card
> View a Time Card
> Find a Time Card
>
> You might also consider the following:
>
> Time Cards
> Understanding
> Creating
> Viewing
> Finding
>
>
> Leonard
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
> Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:12 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question
>
> I prefer to put the relevant verb first:
>
> Time Cards
> Understanding Time Cards
> Create a Time Card
> View a Time Card
> Find a Time Card
>
> On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Robert Courtney <bobsc1 -at- earthlink -dot- net> wrote:
> > I have usually used questions in my help files on how to do things. I
> > use sentence headings for some things such as objects that I need to
> > discuss. Such as:
> >
> > Time Cards
> >    What is a Time Card?
> >    How do I Create Time Card?
> >    How do I View A Time Card?
> >    How do I Search a Time Card?
> >
> > VS
> >
> > Time Cards
> >    What is a Time Card?
> >    Creating a Time Card
> >    Viewing a Time Card
> >    Searching a Time Card
> >
> > Is there really a preference to using a sentence TOC and headings vs
> > questions to accomplish tasks?
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as kathleen -at- writefortheuser -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/kathleen%40writefortheuser.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.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat

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

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as cvickery -at- arenasolutions -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/cvickery%40arenasolutions.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.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


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

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! 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.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question: From: kathleen
RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question: From: Leonard C. Porrello

Previous by Author: RE: Alternative Help method suggestions
Next by Author: Documentation confidentiality level policy
Previous by Thread: RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question
Next by Thread: RE: Help file TOC Sentence VS Question


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


Sponsored Ads