atw: Re: Screenshots in user doco - Yes or No?

Sometimes seeking a management solution is a better approach. When confronted with the prospect of revising someone's truly awful effort, I have once or twice declared the existing version unusable, and offered to replace it from scratch. This approach saved time and heartburn, but it may not be feasible in all circumstances. I make the point that we should not always accept that others dictate the detailed way in which we approach our projects.

Contributors have listed useful points for efficient production of a bulky Word manual. Here are a few more.

Store the Word document in a folder and the screen shots in a subfolder called Images or some such. Use Import by Reference to include screen shots in the document. I give screen shots long, explanatory names based on the navigation path to the window (extended if necessary). For example:

File_Edit_Customer_Record_Charges_Change_Periods_List_Imprint_Report_Fie lds_Window_Example_02.bmp

Yes, it looks like a lot of typing, but it makes it so much easier to find one window among hundreds, and update the screen shot. The names of screen shots imported by reference into Word may be made visible: Alt+F9.

If a screen shot is updated in the Images folder, the version displayed in the open Word document may be updated by highlighting it and pressing F9.

Callouts are problematic: the approach outlined here is most efficient if screen shots are left unadorned. If it is necessary to use callouts, I suggest that you import the screen shot into a graphics program, add the new items, and save the result as a single image. I have seen some quite odd examples where arrows have been drawn in Word from text boxes to points on screen shots, and the various bits have over time lost connection with each other. In one extreme example, the screen shot was on one page and the arrows and text boxes were on the next page...

You will need an archived version of the manual as a basis for the next edition (it might happen...), and a single zip file containing both the Word document and the Images folder is best for this. When you unzip the archive, the screen shots will be placed in an Images subfolder, just where you want them.


James Hunt






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On 29 Mar 2006, at 7:43 PM, Stuart Burnfield wrote:

All good tips, Michael, but whether the graphics are stored locally or on
the International Space Station, the underlying problem is that there are
too many of them. So I think Debbie would be better off first putting a red
pen through 90% of them and then, following this hecatomb, implementing
your advice about links, storage and formats on the survivors.

Yours slashingly

Stuart

What you are experiencing is a really badly built Word file and, almost
certainly as well, the tedium of working with large and graphically rich
files over a networked connection.

The file will work much, much faster if you work with a copy on your
local C: drive, instead of dragging it all across the network to display,
edit, print and save.

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