Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

Preface. Aims and Structure of this Book. Acknowledgements.- Technical Translation. The Importance of Technical Translation. Some Misconceptions. The Reality of Technical Translation. The Aim of Technical Translation. The Translator's Role. Theory in Technical Translation. Conclusions.- Technical Communication. The Nature of Technical Documentation. Software Documentation. Software User Guides. Software User Guides & Quality. What Makes A Good User Guide? Assessing User Guide Quality. Conclusion.- Understanding Users. Usability. The Human Cognitive System. Perception. Memory. Cognitive Processing. Attention. Learning. Reasoning & Problem-Solving. The Transition from Problem-Solving to Skill. Conclusions.- Usability Engineering. Interfaces. Cognetics. Usability Objectives. Understanding How We Read User Guides. Implementing Usability Measures. Iconic Linkage. The Benefits of Iconic Linkage. Potential Criticisms of Iconic Linkage. Conclusions.-Assessing Usability. Empirical Usability Evaluation. Historical Problems in Document Usability Research. Approaches to Empirical Evaluation. Usability Evaluation Procedures. Usability Evaluation Case Studies. Experiment to Test the Impact of Iconic Linkage. Pilot Study. Main Study. Results of Usability Evaluation. Analysis of Results. Conclusions.- Conclusions. Cognetics and Iconic Linkage. Future Directions.-Bibliography.- Appendices