On Sun, 15 Dec 2013 02:57:36 +0100, clipka wrote:

> Yeah, because the docs really don't do the product /per se/ any justice.
> But I've yet to see a software development product where that is /not/
> the case.

The trend in documentation (speaking as someone who's spent the last 
couple years working as a contractor doing documentation and other 
technical writing) has been to move away from rather useless descriptive 
documentation (I know what the File menu does, so you don't need to tell 
me) and moving towards task-based or "targeted" documentation.

The success of targeted documentation depends heavily, though, on 
collaboration with UX engineers and UI designers - the UI should be 
completely intuitive and not require /any/ documentation to use it, 
ideally.  Then documentation can focus on procedures around how to 
accomplish goals and perform tasks.

More advanced topics - like troubleshooting and advanced configuration 
(large scale, heavy use, etc) are either advanced documentation or 
training topics.

Jim

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