ROTFL: From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter.Martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, 2 March 2012 17:20 To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Re: The user guide from hell [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] Warren: So why are you getting rid of Microsoft Word ? -- Sorry... guess the answer's plain enough. Peter G Martin Contract Technical writer Business Change and Communication Team Business Information and Management Solutions Group IP Australia P + 61 2 6283 2972 │ F + 61 2 6283 7999 │ E <mailto:name.surname@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> peter.martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx A 47 Bowes Street, Woden ACT 2606 │ PO Box 200, Woden ACT Australia 2606 Visit us at <http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/> http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au P Please consider the environment before printing this email From: LEWINGTON Warren <Warren.LEWINGTON@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: 02/03/2012 02:27 PM Subject: atw: Re: The user guide from hell Sent by: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx _____ Just today I have been removing software from this computer. On a couple of occasions the software documentation tells you a great deal of very useful, accurate, worthy user information, installation, latest features etc, etc, etc. But for the life of me, I couldn't find out exactly what the software was for... Still wondering, even after removal. _____ From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [ <mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael Lewis Sent: Friday, 2 March 2012 1:37 PM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Re: The user guide from hell There's no denying that many "bad" user manuals are caused by poor product design; some people seem to think that bad design can be fixed by good documentation, whereas in fact bad design virtually guarantees bad documentation. That said, good design certainly doesn't guarantee good documentation . . . Michael Lewis Department of Linguistics Macquarie University On 2 March 2012 09:32, Kath Bowman <Kath.Bowman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: The worst user manual I came across was for a digital video recorder. All through the instructions, it kept telling me what to do if things did not work as expected. It was hard going, and each task took several pages to describe. It was full of "If this happens:" followed by "If that happens:" There were no simple steps to follow to do a task. I didn't encounter any of the problems they described. They should have used simple step-based procedures, followed by trouble-shooting sections. However, the recorder was as badly designed as the manual, and I got rid of the recorder (and the manual) after a while. Cheers Kath Before printing, please consider the environment IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachment to it are intended only to be read or used by the named addressee. It is confidential and may contain legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistaken transmission to you. Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) is not responsible for any unauthorised alterations to this e-mail or attachment to it. Views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of RMS. If you receive this e-mail in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender. You must not disclose, copy or use any part of this e-mail if you are not the intended recipient.