Dear Joe:
Thank you for taking the time to write this. You raise a number of important
issues ranging from delivery platform, navigation and information retrieval,
support of very advanced products (i.e. GX Developer), high-end knowledge
transfer (i.e. algorithms), understanding internal system programming
(i.e. grid display implementation) and introducing new users to OASIS
montaj.
With your permission, I'd like to take these points into consideration
pending release of the v4.3 system. Some of these issues are addressed in
v4.3 and to let you know that we take documentation issues seriously,
please note that we added a new documenter to help us build up this area.
Not perfect, but a start.
Greg
-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Duval [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 1999 12:52 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [geonet]: v4.3 -- What info do you need?
Hi Greg,
My problem with the documentation is that it is inconsistent and often leads
to blind ends. I do not know what the life expectancy of PDF is but I
suggest
that it is not a good format for the long term. Microsoft seems to be going
toward a HTML based system. Certainly HTML would be useable over many
platforms.
I have found it very difficult to find information on just about anything.
Just one small example, I was wanting to export grid information as an XYZ
file but could not remember what GX does the job. I tried using the help
and
could not find anything useful. I finally resorted to looking through the
list of GX's and stumbled across it. I have found this to be typical in
that
any question that I have turns into a difficult session of searching for an
answer. Even the search capabilites of the Windows help system often do not
find anything. I strongly feel that the greatest shortcoming of Geosoft is
the documentation. Perhaps you need to think about the design of a help
system and get some real experts to offer advice on how to structure the
help
files. I do recognize that a one-size fits all will not work when you are
supporting different platforms. You need to invest a bit more effort into
the
help files.
Another example has to do with the development of GX's. I have a license to
do so but have yet to be able to figure how to go about accessing it and
getting started. There really should be a step-by-step set of instructions
on
how to get started. Once a person is up to speed such instructions are not
needed but you have to be able to get started first!
Another area that I feel is woeful is a good discussion of the algorithms
used
for the various operations. I find it very unsatisfactory to have to
experiment to try to understand what the algorithms are doing. This is
particularly important with regard to filters and other processing steps.
Another thing that seems to be true but I have not been able to find
information about is how the system displays separate grids on a single map.
It appears that each grid is treated independently and the image is
optimized
for each grid according to some criterion. That may be fine for some
purposes
but if I want to know whether data are on the same datum, I do not want it
to
automatically do that. The question is whether I have any control over it.
So far I have not been able to find any information on the subject.
Now, to put things in perspective, I am a relatively new user so I am still
discovering how things work. To some extent that process is unavoidable but
the help files should actually help rather than be a source of frustration.
Joe Duval
------------------------
From: Greg Hollyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: [geonet]: v4.3 -- What info do you need?
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 16:10:08 -0400
To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Joseph:
>
> We hear you on documentation. Some of the things we
> are working on for v4.3 include:
>
> ** complete re-writing all of the GX Help for accuracy,
> completeness and briefness (ABC).
> ** adding diagrams from the manuals (see 1DFFT GXs)
> to the GX help.
> ** making sure that the GX Help exactly matches the
> dialogs in the software.
>
> Another project is to work on MAPPLOT to finally get a
> correct version online.
>
> Vis-a-vis, your comment on improving the documentation,
> did you have a specific area of interest?
>
> Greg
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joseph Duval [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, July 12, 1999 5:04 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [geonet]: v4.3 -- What info do you need?
>
>
> Improving the documentation would be nice.
>
> ------------------------
> From: Greg Hollyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [geonet]: v4.3 -- What info do you need?
> Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 11:37:29 -0400
> To: "'[geonet]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
> > The upcoming version 4.3 of OASIS montaj is currently being polished
> > according to comments received from Beta testers. After this process is
> > complete, v4.3 will move into final testing, documentation, etc.
> >
> > In preparation for v4.3, what information / support would be most
valuable
> > to you in getting started quickly with the new v4.3 applications and
> > capabilities?
> >
> > Greg Hollyer
> > Communication Manager
> > Geosoft Inc.
> > _______________________________________________________
> > More mailing list info
http://www.geosoft.com/support/listserv/index.html
> >
> >
>
> ---------------End of Original Message-----------------
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> E-mail: Joseph Duval<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Phone: 703-648-6327 FAX: 703-648-6383
> Date: 07/12/99
> Time: 16:04:28
> U.S. Geological Survey
> 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 954
> Reston, VA 20192
> --------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________________
> More mailing list info http://www.geosoft.com/support/listserv/index.html
> _______________________________________________________
> More mailing list info http://www.geosoft.com/support/listserv/index.html
>
>
---------------End of Original Message-----------------
--------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: Joseph Duval<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Phone: 703-648-6327 FAX: 703-648-6383
Date: 07/13/99
Time: 11:51:35
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 954
Reston, VA 20192
--------------------------------------------------------
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More mailing list info http://www.geosoft.com/support/listserv/index.html
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