Content Free Documentation

I was trying to use an open source tool, and reading the documentation, I was frustrated by more content free documentation.  Here is the example.

 

LaTeX: What I wish I had known, Part 1

I do a lot of writing, and I switched recently from a variety of word processors etc. to LaTeX. It is free, well supported, and does a great job of typesetting books. But for a normal business user with a normal experience in WYSIWYG word processors there are some big surprises. Here is what I wish I knew before starting that journey.

 

The Error Message IS the Documentation

Another example of content free documentation below: documentation that is a waste of screen space even to display it on the screen.  Here the issue is a development team so enamored with Documentation (with a capital D) that they really want to do a complete job to document everything, that they are blind to a better approach.  The real goal of any software development should be to eliminate the need for documentation in the first place.