Document Re-Purposing Project (10%)

For the second assignment, you must "re-purpose," or convert, a print document into a Web-based document. This project gives you experience:

• Designing a linearly-structured "training" Web-site, one of the basic site design "themes" identified by Lynch and Horton, authors of Web Style Guide (ch. 3).
  
  
• Writing an online tutorial, a form of documentation, or instructions. Online documentation is one of the most common genres of Web writing. If you work as a technical writer, chances are you'll write some form of documentation, help, FAQ, or customer support information during your career. Price and Price devote a chapter to the subject (ch. 12).

For this project, you must re-purpose a tutorial or article from Macromedia's Documentation page: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/. You must choose a tutorial or article that is in PDF form only. You can not choose a hypertext/html tutorial from the Macromedia site.

You will then convert your selection from a linear print-based document into a hypertextual Web-based document.

In addition to knowledge of basic Web design, you will be expected to apply knowledge of the differences between print and online documents and effective documentation (i.e., instructions). Since Macromedia is notorious for poorly written documents, you'll also be expected to do more than copy the existing tutorial, but rather "add value" to the tutorials by making them easier for novices to use Macromedia products.

Your final Re-Purposing project must:

• Provide design and navigation that is consistent with a "training"-themed site and a "sequential" site structure, including a consistent menu, forward/back buttons, printer-friendliness, etc. (Web Style Guide, ch. 2 & 3).
• Follow conventions for writing effective documentation, including page layout and illustrations/screenshots
• Include a link to the original Macromedia documentation you re-purposed
• Include an audience analysis page/link (see Hart's "The Five W's of Online Help")
• Include a usability report page/link that includes information about what testing you conducted, the results of the tests, and what changes you made based on the results (see Krug p. 173)
• Follow the same design and content guidelines from Webzine project:
  • Be "published" online
• Adhere to guidelines for writing effective Web text outlined by Price and Price (ch. 5-10, 15) and Web Style Guide, ch. 4-6.
• Use CSS to define at least the text/font styles of your page.
• Identify and properly cite any sources referenced/consulted

This project is due:

• March 30
• You must post your article to your 413 Web site and e-mail a copy (and all relevant files) to Dr. J. by noon, March 30.

Relevant Links

Writing Online Documentation

1. "Creating Customer Assistance that Actually Helps" by Prince & Price (ch. 12)
2. "The Five W's of Online Help" by Geoff Hart
3. "Creating Documentation that Shows" by Janet Eaton (PDF)
4. "Writing Instructions" by David McMurray
5. "Differentiating Online Help from Printed Documentation" by Jane Hemmi (PDF)
6. "Heuristic Inspections for Documentation – 10 Recommended Documentation Heuristics" by Nokia Vesa Purho
7. "Creating Help for the Web: Designs, Trends, Strategies" by Cheryl Lockett Zubak (PDF)
8. "Using RoboHelp to Develop a Simple Web-Based Tutorial" by Ron Curtis

Documentation Examples (from basic to better)

1. print documentation samples from TECHsplain
2. "iMovie: How to Save a Movie as a QuickTime File" from Apple
3. "Create an E-commerce Web Site with FrontPage 2000 or 2002" from Microsoft
4. "Creating Consistent Web Pages with FrontPage 2002" from Microsoft
5. "Building Web Pages with Composer" from Netscape
6. "Create a Web Banner with Image Rollover Effects" from Adobe
7. "Publishing Your Web Page" tutorial (click on first link in "Netscape 6" section) from Netscape
8. Web and New Media Tutorials by Computer Arts

Capturing Screenshots

1. "Capturing Screenshots" (images "captured" from computer screen) by ActiveWin.com
2. "Shooting the Screen" by Rick M. Tew
3. "Creating Documentation that Shows" by Janet Eaton (PDF)
4. "Callouts that Pop" by Eyewire
5. "Photoshop Crash Course" by Jim Frew
6. "Retouching re-sized images with Photoshop" by Eyewire

Usability

1. Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think, ch. 8-11
2. “User Test Your Web Site” by Keith Instone
3. “Conducting Your First User Test” by Keith Instone
4. “Collecting Feedback About Your Website's Search Interface” by Jakob Nielsen
5. "Using the 5Es to Understand Users" by Whitney Quesenbery
6. “User Testing: How to Plan, Execute, and Report on a Usability Evaluation” by Seth Gordon
7. “Usability Basics” by Usability.gov
8. “Conducting and Using Usability Tests” by Usability.gov
9. “Test Your Design--Early and Often” (a case study) by Joan O'C. Hamilton
10. “The Church of Usability” by Alan K'necht

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