Sean Hower wrote: > I've been playng around with the idea of using flowcharts instead > of numbered steps in documentation. > > It seems like it would make complicated procedures, with multiple > options, easier to follow. The drawback, of course, is that it's > not a tool people would be familiar with--except in certain circles. > I guess my general idea is to move away from relying on words-- > similar to model instructions. Radical, I know, but it would be an > experiment worth trying I think. > > Any thoughts for general discussion?
Here are my thoughts, Sean... No particular order, just listed as they came to me: 1. It's not just that people aren't familiar with flowcharts; many people simply can't follow them at all... And of those who CAN follow them, only a few can LEARN from them. The rest just laboriously pick their way through the flowchart without any understanding of the big picture that it represents, and are as likely as not to get lost halfway through and forget where they were in the procedure. 2. Numbered steps can be typed up and emailed, or easily read over the phone. It's hard to communicate the structure of a flowchart without either translating it into a list of numbered steps or finding a way to send the picture. 3. A flowchart's thin lines and tiny arrowheads are likely to be obliterated the first time it's faxed anywhere. 4. People with poor vision may not be able to see the arrowheads anyway. Blind people can't use flowcharts at all. 5. If I have a list of numbered steps, I can call Tech Support and unambiguously tell them, "I'm on Step 5." If I only have a flowchart, I'm forced to say things like, "I'm at the 'Is the computer still on fire?' box. No, the third one. Wait, are you reading top-to-bottom, or left-to-right? Oh. Ok, it's the second one, then." 6. Similarly, it's hard for you to write about a flowchart, so you won't easily be able to explain in a companion paragraph anything about specific steps in the flowchart. 7. Words can convey SO much more than flowcharts... With words, you can explain WHY the reader's doing something; flowcharts generally can't even explain WHAT to do in any sort of detail, since everything has to fit in those little boxes. 8. The text in your flowchart might not be visible to computer search engines, so Google won't find it if you publish your document on the web, and readers might not even be able to use the search tools in their PDF readers or help systems or whatever to find it. 9. If you DO decide to draw flowcharts, keep the structure rigorously consistent and as simple as possible, e.g.: flow is always downward and to the right, lines between boxes always have arrowheads, decision boxes always have "YES" to the right and "NO" down, etc. Use as few shapes as possible -- rectangles for actions, diamonds for decisions, circles for subprocedures (if you need them), and maybe ovals for "START" and "END" -- and work REALLY hard to arrange things so that lines never cross and so that every flowchart fits on a single page or screen. Oh, and before all that... 0. Have your readers already complained that it's difficult to follow your complicated procedures? If not, maybe numbered steps are fine. If they HAVE complained, have they suggested flowcharts as the solution? Have you asked them for other ideas? -Andrew _______________________________________________ Are you a Help Authoring Trainer or Consultant? Let clients find you at www.HAT.Matrix.com, the searchable HAT database based on Char James-Tanny's HAT Comparison Matrix. Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details. Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? Get the scoop at http://www.doc-u-motion.com -- your 3D documentation community. _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals To post a message to the list, send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com or, via email, send a blank message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit the TCP site at http://www.techcommpros.com To find out more about the list, including archives and your account options, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com If you need assistance with the list, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
