To Preface or Not To Preface

Subject: To Preface or Not To Preface
From: David Dubin <David_Dubin -at- NOTES -dot- PW -dot- COM>
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 14:30:57 PDT

Another question of my fellow writers. How do you begin written
documentation? Traditionally, we have used a preface which contained the
purpose and scope of the manual, an explanation of each section, and
concluded with the document conventions and related documentation (if any).

I have been told that this practice is becoming passe. Indeed, in a survey of
several user's manuals from folks like Microsoft and WordPerfect, I found no
Preface, but rather a Getting Started or About This Guide section preceding
the first chapter.

Appreciate any thoughts from y'all on this. Thanks in advance.

David Dubin -at- pw -dot- notes -dot- com
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"Freedom is not free, it is paid for in the blood of our children."


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