TIP OF THE DAY -- Help Screens

[GCC Consulting]

> On Thu, Mar 25, 2004 at 11:16:11AM -0500, Courtney wrote:
>
> > I could not agree more...the screens are set up in such a manner 
> > that its for people who know it, not for those who dont

> Correct.  Yellow Cards (quick reference cards) have always been like 
> that.  They're not reference manuals, they're not tutorials, and 
> they're not intended to be either.

And for many things reference manuals are a far cry from what they used to be.

> Marketing crap notwithstanding (and ghod knows, I've written enough of 
> it :-), you can't learn to be a decent database apps programmer 
> without reading the books, folks.

And you should read a book or so about overall data base design or concepts to
understand the explicit database you are using.

The tutorial manual for Unify were truly amazing in overall concept and not
Unify specific in many areas.  The old big Tandy manuals had that, and I see on
the shelf over there ----> that I have three of the small sized ring binders
that the PC market used as standards that came with an update to Unify. 

> Now, *my* complaint is that the help files don't even do what they're 
> *supposed* to do all that well, and I know some of the long time 
> programmers agree with me... which is why Laura's QRG replacement 
> files exist, among other things. Even they aren't perfect, but they're 
> a damn sight better than what ships.

It seemed to change about the same time that the idea of 'If you know how to
turn on a computer you can learn to program in XXX in
24 hours / 7 days / a month .

The latter really seem to do nothing more than teach you what buttons to push
[relating to consumer goods] and not why you push them or why some combinations
are better than others.

Bill
--
Bill,

The other problem is that everyone is trying to save money.  Manuals became
smaller or non-existent.  Or they are placed on a CD ROM.  

I especially love this with monitors, video cards and cd or DVD drive. Also,
modems which give a web address for help.  

Richard Kreiss
GCC Consulting