Well, for online help, screen captures are often not needed. And, especially if the work is to be translated, graphics can add a fair burden to the job.
However, in this case, I recommend just living by the rules that are placed on you and maybe using a formal process to recommend adding the graphics where you think necessary. Cheers. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <snip> I am authoring online help and adjunct documentation for a client. In a meeting with the prime contractor today I was instructed that there should be no graphics in any of the documentation produced for the client. Their rationale (irrationale?) was that if the documentation ever needed updating it would be too much work to update the graphics. We are using a well known screen capture untility and a authoring tool that is built to reuse every element in the documentation with ease. I pointed out it may take only 2 minutes a graphic to update them if needed (these are mostly screen captures with no formatting other that resizing and a hairline border) but to no avail. I am allowed no contact with the client so I can't ask them their opinion on this directive. Has anyone else produced graphicless documentation? If so, what was the rationale? Inquiring minds, etc. DISCLAIMER: Important Notice ************************************************* This e-mail may contain information that is confidential, privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, do not duplicate or redistribute it by any means. Please delete it and any attachments and notify the sender that you have received it in error. Unintended recipients are prohibited from taking action on the basis of information in this e-mail.E-mail messages may contain computer viruses or other defects, may not be accurately replicated on other systems, or may be intercepted, deleted or interfered with without the knowledge of the sender or the intended recipient. If you are not comfortable with the risks associated with e-mail messages, you may decide not to use e-mail to communicate with IPC. IPC reserves the right, to the extent and under circumstances permitted by applicable law, to retain, monitor and intercept e-mail messages to and from its systems. ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. 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. _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
