Re: Are Tech Writers Valid anymore Re: ghost town

[Mike Starr <mike -at- writestarr -dot- com>]

Technology and user interfaces have arrived at the point where we no 
longer have to explain how to use a mouse and "see that little arrow on 
the right side of the File Type field? Click that to drop down a list of 
available file types to change to a different type of file". Most folks 
(even Gramma) know these sorts of things now and if they don't they can 
recruit a seven-year old to explain it to them.

However, we still have to create and make available step-by-step 
instructions for the most common tasks. The more complicated the 
application, the more tasks we need to document. However, simple 
applications that are meant to do only one or two chores are more often 
designed with big fonts describing each step one screen at a time. The 
help is embedded into the application and where we add value is making 
sure that those embedded instructions are appropriate to the audience 
for the product (and of course, correcting all the misspellings, 
punctuation errors, grocer's apostrophes, and unnecessary capitalization 
that engineers and programmers are wont to litter the countryside with).

Best Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Starr, Writer
Technical Writer   -    Online Help Developer   -   WordPress Websites
Graphic Designer - Desktop Publisher - Custom Microsoft Word templates
(262) 694-1028   -  mike -at- writestarr -dot- com   -  http://www.writestarr.com
President - Working Writers of Wisconsin http://www.workingwriters.org/

On 2/26/2014 2:11 PM, Keith Hood wrote: