Red Drag Diva wrote: > On Wed, 12 Jun 2002 23:52:05 -0700, > Steve Rudman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > : I'm glad you cited the Guide to Mozilla, which makes it very clear that > : the intended audience is developers. My reading of the text leads me to > : a different conclusion than you, apparently. I interpret "general public > : end-user support" as meaning help. At a recent WinWriter's Online Help > : conference, for instance, I think it was William Horton (or someone of > : his stature in the technical writing discipline) persuasively argued > : that Help is the user's "portal" into the full gamut of a company's > : (=distributor's) help offerings. > > > So the Help File should be regarded only as a marketing tool?
No. But it can be used for marketing purposes. > > > : Traditionally, help writers and support > : individuals have been in different bureaucracies within companies, which > : has reinforced the notion that "help" and "support" are completely > : different things. But traditional help content really is the front-line > : of support for users. Good help reinforces customer satisfaction and the > : sense that the product is well-supported. > > > That's why in the case of unsupported software, the documentation > (including how to use the thing) is part of getting it right. > > > : Help Is Support. So when you say, as you do below, that a distributor > : "need add no more than marketing and support," I wholeheartedly agree, > : but I would argue that your statement means that it is incumbent upon > : distributors to develop their own help. > > > Is this your view or Netscape's? Mine. Which in essence is Netscapes. But that hasn't prevented us (Netscape) from delivering our help to the Mozilla tree. > >
