warnings, cautions, notes in sw documentation

[Alison Craig]

In the medical device industry (which is where I currently work), we use Warnings, Cautions and Notes in precisely the manner - and order - described below.

Only Warnings gets an icon (exclamation point inside a triangle).

Alison

________________________________
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of David Spreadbury
Sent: August 1, 2011 5:18 AM
To: hessiansx4 at yahoo.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com; mathieu jacquet
Subject: RE: warnings, cautions, notes in sw documentation

The use of Warnings, Cautions, and Notes, specifically Warnings and Cautions, are used differently in different technologies.

Here are some links that may hep you to decide which use best fits your needs:

http://www.techcommunicators.com/dkmanual/chap5015.html
http://www.techcommunicators.com/emanuals/wrm/chap06/06-13_notes.htm
http://www.stc-soc.org/quill/2004-05/warnings.html
http://www.tpub.com/content/tentsshelters/TB-9-2320-360-13-P-2/TB-9-2320-360-13-P-20234.htm
http://www.techwr-l.com/archives/0403/techwhirl-0403-00541.html
http://goodtools.net/pages/SUNstyle/constr8.htm
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/op990/en/SM/SFF/GUID-EA258A9C-D5EA-43BE-9A44-E8B52A0E594F.html

And MIL-STD-38784C states:
WARNINGS : Highlights an essential operating or maintenance procedure, practice, condition, statement, etc, which, if not strictly observed, could result in injury to, or death of, personnel or long term health hazards.

CAUTIONS: Highlights an essential operating or maintenance procedure, practice, condition, statement, etc, which, if not strictly observed, could result in damage to, or destruction of, equipment or loss of mission effectiveness.

NOTE: Highlights an essential operating or maintenance procedure, condition, or statement.

Another thing that most people don't adhere to is that WARNINGS should come before CAUTIONS, which should come before NOTES, when any two, or all three, may apply to the following paragraph or section.

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> Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:42:37 -0700
> From: hessiansx4 at yahoo.com
> Subject: warnings, cautions, notes in sw documentation
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
>
> Hello all! I've noticed that the legacy docs I'm currently working on use notes and warnings (no cautions) for a software product. I asked why a warning was used instead of a caution and was told: that's the way we do it here. I've only used warnings when bodily harm could result from some action. How are those of y'all in the sw world doing it?


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