As an IT professional (quality assurance analyst), I can tell you that most programmers can't write material for the general user community. They think on a different level and are too technical for the normal user. For that reason, the QA team at my place of employment write all release notes and user documentation. We also present all enhancements and new products to the user community.
So on that note, let's get back to Legacy and how it works! Mary -----Original Message----- From: Bob Vary [mailto:oldcro...@optonline.net] Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 1:03 PM To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Legacy Help files that are nt very helpful! And you're correct about the need to read the entire topic. The point I was trying to make is that the average user simply doesn't, and the writers need to take that reality into account. When analysts and programmers design menus and screens and then write documentation and help files, they need to think like users. Legacy is actually better than most applications when it comes to usability, and I'm impressed that at least some of the tech support people such as yourself actually use the program. You mention consistency. There should be consistency not only in help files, but throughout an application in the way functions and menus work. There should be design standards. This is one of my problems with Legacy. But that's another discussion and I think we've beaten this poor dead horse enough. Bob -----Original Message----- From: Sherry/Support [mailto:she...@legacyfamilytree.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 11:35 AM To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Legacy Help files that are nt very helpful! All of the translation teams have translated the Help files into their languages and frequently respond with comments about something that doesn't sound right. None of them have made mention of the location of the feature being listed at the bottom as being inappropriate. Nor have any of the beta testers. I reviewed Help files in other programs and there was no consistency in how they presented where to find a feature. I don't pretend to know the logic of the programmer who writes the Help file, but I did let him know that there's a discussion on the LUG list about this. Sometimes "knowing how" entails reading the entire Help topic to learn about the feature..... Sincerely, Sherry Technical Support Legacy Family Tree On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 11:53 AM, Cathy-0 <chorn0...@optimum.net> wrote: > Sherry, > > the information SHOULD be at the top of the page. There is a saying that > "it's always easy when you know who." Well, this is definitelty a case in > point. > > Why isn't the information at the top of help page were it would be helpful? > If I can't find how to locate the "Advanced Tagging window" why would I read > through to the end of the instructions for using it to eventually -- > maybe -- find out how to locate it? > > Help files should be helpful. They shouldn't be hiding information in > places where the user isn't like to find it. > > When one programs a web site, there are useability tests which can be used > to see if the objective for the web site is met and if readers can navigate > the web pages easily. Why can't there be some useability testing for help > pages of software? It wouldn't require any major expense. All that is > needed is to have someone follow verbatim the instructionsof a help page to > see if the help pages were truly helpful. > > Just my two cents. > > Cathy-0 Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
