UPDATED! Poll Results Added.

I am working in a different medium nowadays, using DITA. The company I work for has some standards that are a little different than I have seen in quite a few years of working in this field. The formatting and layouts I am working with are more common in Framemaker shops than in most online-help-development-oriented departments.

Specifically, the standards call for using a different font (like Courier), bold or italic text, or a special indentation for text that describes a user action or choice, a window name, a GUI element, and so on.

This scheme produces text with many formatted “cues” in the text. I’m curious about the value of adding all the font changes in user instructions: Is is valuable, or is it a distraction to users?

What do you think? Access the poll and provide your answers. I promise to post the results.

RESULTS! Keep in mind, this was a very small sample (less than 25 people), but the results are interesting, and lean in the direction of using font cues in documentation text.

Answer
36% – I think this is very effective and use this in my documentation.
21% – This is somewhat effective, but time-consuming. I use it.
14% – Detracts from the documentation and makes it harder to use, not easier. I don’t use it.
14% – I have NO idea! What does everyone else think?
7% – I am unsure of the value, and I don’t use it.
7% – I am unsure of the value, but my organization requires it, so I use it.
0% – Absolutely valueless to my users, and they dislike it. I don’t use it.
0% – Other answer…

Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer this poll!

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