On Fri, Mar 03, 2006 at 08:45:02AM -0500, Stuart Brorson wrote: > > > Perhaps it would be a good idea to show the user normal everyday words in > > > stead of 'refdes' and 'slot' and whatever else. It makes a lot more sens= > > e at > > > first, and seems less daunting. When I'm confronted with weird terms lik= > > e > > > these, I think "Huh? What does this mean? This is too complicated for m= > > e." > > > > I disagree that the terminology should be changed to more common > > words. In any profession a series of terms evolves that allows > > succinct and accurate communication. Learning the terminology is a > > necessary step to proficiency. > > Yeah, I agree with this. PCB design has its own terminology, like any > other speciality field. People need to learn the terminology to use > the tools.
Then the terms in program's dialogs could have a little question mark or be sensitive to some kind of help key and display the definition of that term. Or PCB manual can contain vocabulary section with definitions. > > > To reduce the learning curve there should be some sort of help menu > > item that will access terms and definitions. If gaf has terms that are > > different from standard industry terms (I am not sure if does) we > > probably should change them. > > This is a good idea for the wiki: A glossary of terms such as "refdes", > "slot", "footprint", and so on. Of course, this doesn't help the > newbies who don't read the documentation . . . . . I suggest not to put it on wiki because I am working with PCB in a train. CL< > > Stuart
