Software Documentation
Software documentation typically contains three types of information: Conceptual, Contextual and Procedural. Problems in comprehension arise for the user when the three types are not distinctly presented.
Conceptual Information
Frequently, users need some background on the issues before they can decide how to proceed. Conceptual information includes generic information on the subject at hand. Consider the following two examples.
Contextual Information
In each of the cases above, the user guides continue with Contextual Information explaining how the particular features of the software help to resolve the issues raised. Contextual information pertains to the current situation only. It is frequently used to explain, in an informal way, how selecting from among various choices may affect the outcome of an operation.
Procedural
Procedural information tells the reader specifically how to perform a certain task, or group of related tasks. Procedural information is presented much more formally, usually in a numbered list. In the following example, there is a small amount of contextual information to set up the procedure. Notice how the layout enhances comprehension by only the operator steps being numbered, while the program response to each step is listed separately.
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