Hi Laura, The changing screens won't be a constant - the company has just entered a new market, so there's a lot of user acceptance testing and redevelopment going on which impacts the UI. But at the mo it's very annoying trying to put a stake in the ground. The other prob with screenshots is that we're catering for multiple markets with different terminology and features. So it's not just replacing one screenshot, it's replacing at least two and as many as four. Cheers, Craig -----Original Message----- From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of fullpwr@xxxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, 29 March 2006 3:05 PM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Re: Screenshots in user doco - Yes or No? I sort of hate to say this, because I agree that bigness in a document offsets the user-friendliness features, BUT...I've had really good results using screen shots, particularly in training materials (as distinct from documentation materials). That having been said, if they're IN the training materials, I'm thinking they shouldn't need to be repeated in the documentation materials (i.e. stuff that is mostly kept on a shelf and only used by the real geeks who can cope without screen shots anyway). Question: if the screen appearance changes so much, is the system even stable enough to write and distribute a many-hundreds-of-pages manual yet? Curiously, Laura Craig Bligh writes: > Guys, > > Fundamental question. Do you include screenshots in your printed doco > or not? Why? Why not? > > At the moment I'm trying to convince a company director that we don't > need screenshots in our printed reference materials, despite a mandate > to have the doco as user-friendly as possible (audience is teachers). > At the moment we use screenshots in our getting started training notes > (covering most common features), but not in our reference guide. > > I've argued that adding screenshots will push the ref guide from about > 450 pages to around 650-700, making it less likely that somebody will > pick up the doco in the first place. (I did also argue that since > screens change every other day, it's a nightmare to maintain.) > > So from a user's point of view, is it more user-friendly to include > screenshots for a novice reader? > > Thanks, > Craig > > Craig Bligh > MXL Consolidated Pty Ltd > Level 1, 261 George Street > Sydney NSW 2000 > Phone +61 2 8249 0022 > Fax +61 2 8249 0099 > Email craig.bligh@xxxxxxx <mailto:craig.bligh@xxxxxxx> > www.mxl.com <http://www.mxl.com/> > > > MXL: Wise Software Solutions for the Global Education > Market<http://www.mxl.com/images/mxl_email_signature.gif> > ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ************************************************** ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************
