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Subject:Re: Summary of changes in prefaces From:"Nancy S. Burns" <nburns -at- NOAO -dot- EDU> Date:Thu, 13 Jan 1994 09:34:39 -0825
>What do you all think about including a section in prefaces to
>software and hardware manuals that lists the changes made to those
>books since the previous release/edition?
>Do you think readers/users really care whether the name of a
>chapter was changed, or that it was moved somewhere else in the book?
>David McMurrey
>Info. Dev.--IBM, Austin, Texas
>davidm -at- austin -dot- ibm -dot- com
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I think the revision notes are a value-added feature in a manual.
If you include revision notes in the front of a revised manual, then anyone
who has referred to a previous version will be apprised of what has
changed. This not only includes customers, but customer service and
technical staff as well.
Revision notes can save readers time and reduce frustration in determining
what has been added or deleted. This increases customer satisfaction and
reduces customer service calls.
For new manual readers, they can ignore the notes but will at least know
that future versions will contain notes that they may find useful.
Nancy S. Burns
National Solar Observatory
Tucson, Arizona
e-mail: nburns -at- noao -dot- edu
"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible."
- Jonathan Swift
