美国老编谈Topic-Based Writing（II）

在美国老编谈Topic-Based Writing（I）中（http://www.jianshu.com/writer#/notebooks/11870988/notes/11554321），我列出了Utpala推荐的TBW优秀写作范本。这一节，她分享了，TBW的实际操作经验。有个别观点与我以往的写作观点很不同，我仍然持保留态度，今后找机会与业内人士交流。

• Do a quick audit: In your current topic/document （此处，Utpala的意图是尽快切入task主题，topic-based writing中，topic比例中要以task为主。）

  • How long does it take for your reader to get to the first task?
  • What is in the way?
  • What can you remove?
  • What is the proportion of task topics to concept and reference topics?
    • Brown = task
    • Blue = concept
    • Green = reference
    • Red = Other
  • Do the majority of topics emphasize doing real work instead of knowing something about the product?

• Eliminate distracting, cumbersome introductory material. Reduce the ‘meta-text’ imposed on readers （这块是我持保留意见的，我觉得文档在注意实用性的同时，也应保持文档的全面性，我还是会在文档中保留这些信息。对于chapter-level TOC，我通常的做法是，用ordered list 将主要的task串起来，放在一章的首页。）

  • About this book
  • Chapter-level TOCs
  • Typographical convention lists

• Remove sections dedicated to:

  • Long product descriptions
  • Pictures and descriptions of every button in the interface （对于那些很明显的，我同样也会选择一代而过）
  • Definitions of terms and acronyms （这一块也是仁者见仁的一点。有少数入门级读者，真是抱着学习的心态在看手册（而不是在遇到操作困难时），他们希望有这样的信息）

• Emphasize tasks over concepts

  • Embed necessary small concepts at the beginning of a task to provide context (这点非常赞同。小的概念放在task前面讲最合适。每个task的第一段，都是要向读者解释goal--why do i need to do this task, what benefit will I get by doing this task? 此时，正好可将small concept一并放入。）
  • Refer to larger concepts elsewhere in the doc (如果概念解释内容很多，那还是另立conceptual topic合适）
  • Cut concepts that are not essential to the task or goal

• Task List - Eliminate all unnecessary information

  • Is the task real? Or are we representing it as a task when it is not one?
  • Is the task necessary to meet customer goals?
  • Is the task not obvious to customers? （对于显而易见的操作，就不用大张旗鼓把它也写成一个task啦，比如编辑/删除一条信息，如果已经把创建这条信息写成了task, 不妨把编辑与删除，以一个note的形式加在创建task的后面；或者可以直接不写。）
  • Is the task a single task?
  • Do customers already know how to perform the task?
  • Do they already have background information?
  • How critical is the consequence of failure? Provide error and recovery in another section. （这点容易忽略！是点好建议）
  • Can this information be effectively transmitted in the planned media?