Customer Reviews

Designing and Writing Online Documentation: Hypermedia for Self- Supporting Products, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you're not a technical writer and you've never seen a web page before, then this book is for you. It deeply covers every banal topic I've NEVER considered before about writing. For example, I've never found it necessary to have a table of contents defined for me, but this book spends a lot of text defining and explaining the most intuitive aspects of writing.

If you are seeking a difinitive argument for why organization is important, this book has 26 pages of cited references for why a project plan is a useful tool. Unfortunately it doesn't give any detailed examples or any advice on how to create a plan. Nor does it discuss how plans might be different based on the project itself or how to take into account a plan that is an interdepartmental project. These are just a few of the questions I had when I started reading this book which have yet to be answered.

This book gives simple guidelines for simple projects and doesn't go much further. Of the 399 pages and 14 chapters, I was forced to skim at least half. This is the first time that I've felt that a technical book wasn't technical enough. As technical writers, our strength comes from interpreting technical material for the less technically inclined. I'm sorry that Mr. Horton couldn't recognize our level of understanding and provide us with more useful reference material than "Designing and Writing Online Documentation."

As a project manager in the world of intranet development and more technical development projects, I frequently have to train entry-level consultants on how to develop content for online delivery. This book is the bible I give each employee. It has served as a great foundation for both methodology and understanding of the basics. From there, these employees can move to the next level. Great book!

This book was published in 1994. Even at that time it offered little new to advanced technical writers, although new writers might have learned a few things things from it.

Today, its obsolescence renders it useless. One example suffices: Horton advises writers to avoid using words like mouse, window, command, and file. "This secret jargon baffles users," he says.

If your hoping to find the answers to, " How do I create an online document?", you won't find them in this book. This book is kindergarden for technical writers who want to write online. The information I needed, what is the best format for document XYZ, and, how do I get started, were not to be found. (despite my painful search) If your a real novice with online documentation and you really like difinitions, long, long definitions, this is the text for you.

This book is an invaluable tool for anyone in the area of Online Documentation, or anyone wanting to get a grasp of what the subject involves.

Another long-winded thesis. It lacks the ONE thing that documentation managers and writers need: the tool. There is not a single example of a project plan or documentation design doc. There is no CD with templates. What a disappointment. By the time I finish reading this, my project will be due.