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Home > Rants > How to organize a step-by-step procedure. > Put instructions into discrete steps. > Separate explanations from steps |
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Separate explanations from stepsA common vice among procedure writers is blending chatter with instructions, explaining a few things at the same time as issuing an instruction, or even putting an explanation in the same format as a step, so someone tries to act on a description. When explanations are entangled with instructions, everyone--beginner and expert alike--has to slow down to figure out what to do. You confuse people. Most people expect that each step will contain an action to perform, not a concept to understand, or a comment on the action. |
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If a step needs handholding advice, decide where you're going to put the
advice--in an introduction or in an explanation. Then move the advice.
In this example, Step 7 begins with the result of Step 6, then gives
the users two actions to undertake, and then states the result. Too much!
7. You see the Print dialog box. Enter the number of copies that you want,
and click OK. In a moment, your document starts printing.
In the revised procedure, each action gets its own step. Each explanation
gets its own separate paragraph, indented, in plain text, to distinguish
it from the steps. 6. Choose Print on the File menu. You see the Print
dialog box. 7. Enter the number of copies that you want.
8. Click OK. |
Additional detail on instructions: Format steps so they stand out Resources: Help (A chapter from Hot Text: Web Writing that Works. PDF: 995K, or about 18 minutes at 56K).
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Was I supposed to put shaving soap on this brush before I rubbed my face?
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