Steps and Step Result - Last Step Result at the Margin?
Forum topic: Submitted by dianamost on Sat, 2009-04-25 21:19.
I am using DITA with XMetal. I have been told to move the last step result out to the margin following the last step. I have never seen any instruction written like this.
Example:
1. Do this.
2. Open the window.
The window opens and displays whatever.
3. Select the whatever.
The whatever is selected.
4. Click Close.
The whatever is saved.
What is the reason for putting the <stepresult> for the last step at the margin? There is not one other element on the page, except the title, that looks like this. Is this a DITA standard?
Confused,
DO
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result versus stepresult
DITA is very flexible. I do not know who told you (to get confused :-). And what for?
The formatting of the result lines depend probably on the tag you use: <stepresult> inside a single step and <result> at the end of a list of steps.
My advice is to use <result> as a task result which is different to the result of the last step. In your example the last step saved the "whatever". But this is limited to the last step in my opinion and should be kept in <stepresult> like you did with results of step 2 and 3. The overall result sometimes sounds like the repetition of the task title, maybe you can do better. All this is depending on !your! styleguide. Some people (Germans like me) want results with each step so they can controll whether they are still on track - especially if there are 20 steps to go. Others (from US ??) are expecting that steps are simple and straightforward and that it is a waste of time to list intermediate result. You just do the 20 steps and then check if you achieved your goal. If not you blame the technical writer, isn't it?!
I wonder whether many manuals make use of both result types. You should know your audience - or your styleguide. And do not blame XMetaL or Open Toolkit for any formatting like indent or underline or ... those formats are just startingpoints for you to get something out when evaluating. Learn CSS and adjust to your needs and rules.Or you hire a consultant, there are some out there to do such jobs fast and efficiently.
-ghk