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On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 11:54 AM, Mike Starr <mike -at- writestarr -dot- com> wrote:
> [real-world examples of where we need the *Why* in addition to the *How*]
I agree that Why is often necessary, and should be linked as related
topics. I think this goes back to John's other question about whether
metadata is important or not, and in this case, I think meta fields
should be used to add weight to How topics so they are not buried by
the Why.
When a previous company interviewed users of our documentation, they
found search to be of paramount importance. The search engine should
able to handle queries structured as questions or statements and not
just search on the collection of keywords.
Meta data could be set up to provide search keys for those phrases:
- How to {perform x feature} with {y}
- When to {perform x feature} with {y}
- etc.
Conversely, the meta data for concept tasks could include:
- The best use of {x feature}
- The history of {x feature}
- More than what you need to know of {x feature}
- etc.
Do current content production systems allow for this?
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