Limitations where?

Subject: Limitations where?
From: Mark Levinson <mark -at- CRABAPPLE -dot- BITNET>
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 1994 09:38:15 IDT

When writing about a product or a program, where do you normally
include its limitations?

** All kinds of places, depending on when the user needs to be told or
reminded of the limitation. Examples:

IN ADVANCE:
"This is a kosher turbo-oven and will reject all pork products."
-- Right up front. Someone may want to return the
machine immediately. Put the note at the start of the
manual, prominently in the ReadMe, and/or even in the marketing
materials.

DURING OPERATION:
"For health reasons, be sure not to undercook pork products."
-- Some relevant place in the body of the instructions, such as setting
the timer. Could be in the ReadMe too.

NEVER:
"If the pig won't fit into the oven, don't climb in and try to
pull it after you."
-- Appendix or ReadMe.

The midground is where the issue gets tricky. On the one hand, some
operational provisos could be relevant to many different procedures
and can seem too prominent if you repeat or reference them too many
times, while on the other hand an "Always Remember The Following Stuff"
section on page 5 won't help the user on page 87.

Also, marketing people may tell you to downplay the limitations, while
R&D people may warn you (or worse yet, may not warn you) that the
limitations are difficult to calculate and subject to change during
the life of the manual.
__________________________________________________________________________
Mark L. Levinson, SEE Technologies, Box 544, Herzlia, Israel
mark -at- dcl-see -dot- co -dot- il | voice +972-9-584684, ext. 230 | fax +972-9-543917


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