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February 13, 2002
Documentation On Demand We have
Documentation On Demand
We have written quite a bit of documentation to go with the work we do - all nicely done in XML and then generated into HTML or PDF - using Cocoon (of course). BUT NO ONE READS IT! That's the sad truth (and probably the same everywhere).
- If you have no documentation - everyone complains
- If you have documentation - no one reads it
So what is the answer? Documentation On Demand. If no-one has had that idea yet - it's mine.
What is DoD? Well basically it is product documentation that knows when to present itself. The user does not have to go looking for documentation (he won't) - the documentation comes looking for him. Simple. When the user runs into a problem the documentation sub-system (The RTFM Agent to you and me) automatically recognizes this and calls up the documentation to do with this point. This is then highlighted and brought to the users attention with a blaring fanfare (thou shalt read this! - You fool).
What do you mean the Microsoft paper-clip assistant is long dead?
Posted by Matthew at February 13, 2002 03:10 PM