John Kane wrote:
On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:16:34 -0400, "Gary Schnabl"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
Michele Zarri wrote:
Totally agree. Problem is that when people use the guide as a
reference manual (and most do) they just jump to the section you are
interested in, expecting to find all the information they need. For
this reason, it makes sense to me to avoid saying that to change a
gradient you open the Area page/tab :-D if you just said 10 lines
above that this is the page to set the area properties, but I am sure
someone will complain about the quality of the manual if we did so.
The typical users have evolved to the point whereby the GUI component
names could be dispensed with, for the most part. If I were to say
something of my driving a car with a 5-speed tranny, I wouldn't go into
much detail about the gear-shifting procedure (or the specific auto
components involved) but instead I might say to upshift from second to
third. Just about anybody whom I would be talking to would clearly know
and understand fully without my going into needless details.
PCs have been around a long time now and are commodities today and their
use is very intuitive, by design. It's about time to stop going into as
much detail as in the past when describing how to run various functions,
etc. Some developers don't even include instructions anymore--for some
evidence of that.
Gary
I agree in part but what is intuitive to an experienced user is not
necessarily intuitive to a new user. I spent years using mainframes and
it took me quite a while to realize what proportional fonts could do to
my output. A decimal tab? What's that?
On the OOo Calc forum it is not unknown for someone to recommend
picking up a used Excel or Quatro Pro "How to" book to learn the basics
of using a spreadsheet. TJe Calc manuals assume a basic knowledge of
spreadsheets.
Also we are serving a world-wide audience. It may be that computers are
very common in, say , the OECD countries but it is not always true in
other parts of the world.
-----
John Kane
Kingston ON Canada
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(613) 888-2399
It's my suspicion that the more experienced users are more prone to read
documentation--and they usually can breeze through them. That's why an
abridged version (a "Reader's Digest" quick start) is usually included
with various hardware/software.
Reading (of anything textual) in the US is rumored to be at a very low
level, with only a tiny percentage essentially reading all the books and
such. If that is the case with OOoAuthors docs, then going into much
detail is probably quite unnecessary.
Gary
