On Ad Hoc Technical Writing…

One Sunday every month, I make the coffee at church, which means I spend a couple hours in the church kitchen.

For years, I had looked right past this sign, but yesterday morning, for whatever reason, I suddenly realized what a masterpiece of technical documentation it is.

It shows how to fold a circular tablecloth. Look at how she marks the edges with letters in the first image, then between the second and third, she uses callouts to show where the edges end up after you do some folding. Notice how A and B come together. Then C and D are in the middle, until you fold, when they become corners.

I spent a couple minutes looking at this, and I genuinely think I could fold a round tablecloth. Ms. Wilson, I don’t know who you are or where you are, but bravo on this.

I love it when something is explained well.