Hallo jon, On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 17:04:18 -0400GMT (12-7-2004, 23:04 +0200, where I live), you wrote:
RO>> AJ> Documentation is part of a product. That's an awkward way of quoting. RO>> Though I certainly wouldn't say that TB is the best documented program RO>> ever, I certainly can't blame RitLabs too much for the online help. J> Who can you blame if not RitLabs? You're arguing about the false part of my statement. I didn't mean to say that you shouldn't blame RitLabs for the help deficiencies, but not as much as everybody seems to do. I've always found TB's help sufficient, okay it might not grade an A, but it'll do. J> This has been hashed many times on the list, and many folks truly J> believe that the poor help system has only served to hold back TB's J> market penetration. AMOF I couldn't care less about TB market penetration. But the most important reason that TB isn't used by the masses is the price and lack of frivolous whistles and bells. RO>> Let's face it. What do you expect from a help file? It has to mention RO>> the features in the program, but it doesn't have to take you by the RO>> hand like one of those [EMAIL PROTECTED]@d MS wizards that take you almost to the RO>> place where you'd like to be and then leave you in the dark how to RO>> get at your final destination. J> Most people expect a help file that covers all features and is written clearly. In my experience those help files don't exist. J> Try Help under Options | Network & Administration and tell me that this really J> covers accounts & groups properly. To tell you the truth, I honestly don't know what I would have written more on that subject, if I wrote those texts. J> Where is the detailed information regarding the different editors? You're right, as far as I could see, there's only info about TB's traditional editor. J> Why are things like "Unblock User PIN" in TB when it applies to a J> different product? Because that's an item in another version, not another product. Recently I've looked into two help files (apart from TB's for this discussion) The first was Word's help, telling me that I couldn't do things because I got the stand alone version and not a network variety. The other came with the software for my dect pabx, telling me about the wonderful things I could do with bluetooth gsm's and another type of pabx. So the only three help files I've looked into, since I've got my new computer have in common that they address features of other versions and you're complaining that TB's help does something uncommonly stupid in this area. I don't think that's very realistic. RO>> I can't remember how many questions I've answered with straight RO>> quotations from the help. Most questions I didn't do that were things RO>> I wouldn't expect in a help file. J> Maybe because you have low expectations (like I do) for TB's help? Let's take an example of my last message outside this thread. That was something like "what's wrong with my filter" There is no help file that starts debugging your own programming efforts. J> When I have a problem/question with TB, I rarely invoke Help because it is so J> hard to find info (if indeed it exists.) Somewhere around June 2 I got my new pc. I installed tb from scratch, I copied my message base from my old pc, but I picked all of TB's fine tuning out of the help file. Just to see whether it was really so difficult to as I often hear inn this echo. Mind you I'm no novice user and I've known my way around computers for quite some time, but I didn't run into difficulties. J> Now imagine a new user who tries to invoke Help in Options | J> Preferences (arguably one of the most critical areas where J> competent Help is necessary.) Tell me that the "The topic does not J> exist" error message is not particularly egregious and J> unprofessional... Yup. That could've been handled better. However, most choices you can pick are rather straightforward. And where it's a bit more guessing like "What editor?" It's explained in the window itself without any need to invoke the help. Mind you. I still think TB's help could be better, but I definitely refuse to go help bashing, because it's not that bad. -- Groetjes, Roelof Disclaimer: Any opinion stated in this message is not necessarily shared by my budgies or rabbits. ________________________________________________ Current version is 2.11.02 | 'Using TBUDL' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
