One of the best approaches is to use as many different techniques to convey meaning to the user as possible. The techniques involve arrangement of style of text, visual aids, plots, and photographs. I can certainly vouch for the importance of such techniques in my line of work: software engineering. Programs usually consist of millions of lines of cryptic looking code. Nobody can understand all that code without proper instructions. One example comes to mind:
http://alperdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/net-framework-35-types-an...
This poster is a categorization of the most important parts of a software package called the Microsoft .NET Framework. It can be thought of as a sort of instructions for software developers. It’s not a list of step-by-step instructions but it allows programmers to figure out what code to use for what task.
The diagram is very consistent. The same font, font size, header style, lighting, and color saturation are used through the entire poster. Each section is a clear contrast between sections since they are colored differently. Even the spacing between and within sections is consistent and the edges are perfectly aligned. Not how the header and footer have the same style. There is a legend at the lower right corner to explain markings. Of course, this poster is only a small part of the instructions available to software engineers. For example, “Fundamentals -> System -> Array” has its own web page with further instructions:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.array.aspx
On that web page, you will find syntax rules, remarks, examples, hierarchy, and much more information which is specific to “Array”. In my experience, I find the “examples” section to be most useful because it shows how these programming concepts can be directly used. Although it might be hard to see for a non-programmer, information that deals with similar aspects of a concept has within close proximity. Furthermore, you will find that the web page for every .NET Framework concept consistently has the same style.
Good, clear, writing.
I really liked your reading response this week because you did a great job of describing something that was foreign to most people(non-programmers). This is precisely what is missing from so many instructional documents that we run into. First you introduced the idea you were talking about, and included a link for an example so the reader can get a better idea of what you meant. Then you explained what the link was in plain English that everyone can understand. Next, you dissected the example in relation to our readings for this week and gave another example with a link. I had no problem understanding what you were talking about at all. Hopefully we can all achieve this in our instructions projects.
Great Example
The example you provide is perfect. Personally, I don’t think anyone is better at presenting clear, useful instructions than Microsoft. I have actually referenced the source of where the content of your link came from, that is, the .NET Framework Developer Center. You also accurately analyzed the effective design aspects of this example, including consistency, style, color, and alignment. One thing I noticed in your response is that you’ve not elaborated on how you plan to relate this week’s readings to your project. After reading the other students’ post, it appears that many, including myself, are guilty of this. As Nathaniel commented in my post, “make specific and concrete connections between the readings and work you are doing.” After all, the intention of these responses is to provide knowledge for ourselves and to relate to the projects we work on throughout this course.
Agreed Agreed
I also agree strongly with the comments left above. I think that the examples that you provided are very strong and indicate the direction that you might want to be taking (depending on what you're doing), but I also think you could have provided some more relation to the readings and how you actually plan on implementing these concepts. I think these examples illustrate some of the advantages of a design style, but I don't think there is any cookie cutter concept or set up that will work in every instance. I think it really requires an up close analysis of the audience under consideration.
Let me start out by saying I
Let me start out by saying I love this diagram! Very nice, I will put it to use in the future. This does serve as a good example of a nice consistent diagram, and use of graphics, the only thing I can see being an issue is the high resolution of the picture. You also make a very good point about instructions sets and coding in general. For a complex subject like coding, graphics can really come in handy for visualization of what is going on and overall design of a document becomes very important. The many WebPages we use when researching coding projects range from well designed to horribly designed.
Thanks
JFlitt.
www.JFlitt.com
design elements
Excellent job with your reading response this week! I think you provided a great example that supports your comments. The Microsoft .NET Framework diagram is very well organized with consistency in font, style, and color. The alignment of the diagram is crisp and uniform with each other. When trying to produce a diagram that’s explaining a complex topic like code programming, your design elements are vital. If you don’t maintain a proper consistency in your design elements, it will affect your message and could potential lose interest in your audience. In addition, Microsoft did a great job on making this very easy to comprehend. The key to success in this was analysis your audience and make a consistent diagram with design elements.
Catchy
I totally agree that that is a good example. The design is simple yet catchy. It just seems to flow together so well. I like the use of different colors to help set sections apart and draw attention to them. The differences in the font sizes and styles really help to set apart the sections. It reminds me of a poster that you would see hanging in KNOY. It’s really simple to glance at and read the sections and jump to something that may interest you without having to read the whole poster.
-Chris
Good contrast
Good example of a well-designed document. This poster serves as a good example of design and layout as it was discussed in the readings this week. I also noticed how affective the use of contrast is in this example. There is no question in my mind what heading and sub-heading each element fall into. The different colors also suggest to me that each group is used to complete distinctively different tasks when writing code. The only criticism I have of this example is that the header is a little bit under-developed and bland compared to the rest of the poster. The tables are so colorful and eye-catching that my eye wasn’t drawn to the title for several seconds. I initially thought to myself “this is pretty but what is it?”