An attempt is made to establish the view that any medium used to convey information is an interface. Knowing this, technical communicators should be able to make use of human-factors research and techniques that deal with user interfaces. The author discusses the human-factors principles of standardization, iteration and measurement, which all show promise when applied to technical communication.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Six steps that are very much like those used in the planning phase of a software product are listed. It is shown, with the help of an extended illustration, how these same steps apply to the planning of an information product. The result is a set of measurable objectives that actually prescribes the appropriate usability testing for the documentation.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>