Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation

Versions of User Guides 
Once the software and user guide were selected, the first step was to pro-
duce two versions of the user guide: one with Iconic Linkage and the other 
without Iconic Linkage. 
The first stage of this process was to create a copy of the original user 
guide and ensure that both versions were identical in terms of fonts, layout 
user guide was going to be used and that the available time was limited, ad-
ditional graphics were included to provide greater clarification for certain 
sections of the text where otherwise users would refer to the system or an-
other section of the user guide. 
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and graphics. The format of the documents was updated to make the infor-
mation even clearer. Given the fact that only an extract of the complete 

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Experiment to Test the Impact of Iconic Linkage
The next stage involved rewriting one version of the user guide to intro-
duce Iconic Linkage. In practice, there are a number of ways of introducing 
Iconic Linkage, including the use of 
style guides 
and 
text processing soft-
ware
. 
Style Guides 
As described in Chapter 4, style guides are a good way of implementing us-
ability principles. Style guides also represent an effective way of restricting 
the ways in which information can be formulated; much in the same way as 
controlled language does (Power 
et al. 
2003:115). In effect, this facilitates 
the introduction of Iconic Linkage by creating an environment where iso-
morphic formulations are preferred. So, to implement Iconic Linkage we 
would need to develop a reasonably detailed and comprehensive style guide 
to specify the ways in which information can be formulated. There are, 
however, limitations in the use of style guides. It may not always be possi-
ble to develop a style guide because this is itself a lengthy and time-
consuming process. As Dumas & Redish maintain, any of the publicly or 
commercially available style guides can be used to eliminate this problem 
(1993:60).
Another potential problem with style guides is that if Iconic Linkage is to 
be implemented on a large scale in a text, a large number of rules will be 
needed. This introduces the problem of learning, memorising, practising 
and consistently using the rules. Depending on the number of rules, it may 
be impossible for one person to remember them all and then to use them 
consistently without some form of tool to ensure adherence to the style 
rules (see Schwitter 
et al.
2003). Ultimately then, the best course of action 
is, perhaps, to opt for a fairly limited style guide which is easy to remember 
and implement.