[Coco] First experiences with my DE1

Sun Feb 16 20:22:59 EST 2014

By newbie, I mean an end user who is not familiar with the product,
using the knowledge obtained in his/her experiences in setting up and
running the product to develop a user guide for others in the same
situation.

This is not a manual, it's a getting started
"how-not-to-waste-your-entire-weekend" type of guide which is better
explained from a "newbie's" point-of-view. 

A more detailed manual does require someone with a deeper knowledge of
the product.

Nick

----- Original Message -----
From: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" 
To:
Cc:
Sent:Sun, 16 Feb 2014 19:38:58 -0500 (EST)
Subject:Re: [Coco] First experiences with my DE1

 I was going to stay out of this one as well until Art spoke up.
 I disagree to a "certain" degree.

 First.... A newbie writing the manual? That's Like I send you a copy
of my current project and tell you to write me a manual.... or better
yet... just run it :-)
 How can someone with no knowledge of the software write a manual?
Yes, once one is familiar with the program and has some knowledge of
the inner workings, then yes, they could write a manual.

 The author/developer at least needs to keep some notes, command
trees, installation instructions....
 Without some sort of beginning, the is no where to start. I'm not
saying they need to write the manual, but they do need to have a part
in it... it's their software/hardware.
 My current project has over 125 menus buried in main, sub, and sub of
sub menus. There are points where there are special keys that will do
special things, these are not in any way marked in the GUI... to run
this without a manual, you would miss half the functionality of the
software.
 I have written a manual for every piece of software I've released and
some I haven't released. I don't expect anyone to understand my whimsy
nor write it for me.
 I feel if I'm going to offer something to the public free or
commercial, I at least owe them some instruction for using it. For
without instruction they will not get full benefit of the thousands of
hours of work I've put into this labor of love and then I will not get
the attention that I was striving for to start with. And isn't that
what we do it for in the end? The attention.
 You ever think that "maybe" this is why the Coco community is in the
state of non-popularity that it's in? No one can figure out how to run
the stuff you're producing. If it's meant for your own personal use
then don't put it in public and expect someone else to finish it for
you... or question how to run it.. or how to install it

 As a professional musician, I have played in many bands, some of
which I required my fellow bandmates to play some of my original
compositions. Now how would it sound if I stepped on stage with a a
bunch of musicians who not only have no sheet music to my songs, but
they're never even heard them. It would be a disaster. Any time I've
required someone to play my music, I've provided chord charts, sheet
music, and/or drum charts PLUS a recording of the complete song.
 And most of all, after spending many hours composing the music and
doing the arrangements, I didn't say "Well I wrote the song... you can
figure it out..."
 I would be out of business.

 Bill Pierce
 "Today is a good day... I woke up" - Ritchie Havens

 My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
 https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
 Co-Webmaster of The TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
 http://www.colorcomputerarchive.com/
 Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
 http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
 E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com

 -----Original Message-----
 From: Arthur Flexser 
 To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts 
 Sent: Sun, Feb 16, 2014 7:01 pm
 Subject: Re: [Coco] First experiences with my DE1

 I was going to disagree as well, but now that Al has done so, I'll
just add
 my voice to his. Some developers are lousy manual writers, and some
are
 very good at it.
 For the lousy ones, the problem might sometimes be that they are too
close
 to the product and assume incorrectly that readers grasp something
that
 they find obvious. Other times, it might be that writing with clarity
is
 just not one of their skills. In-depth familiarity with the product
 would be a strength for a manual writer rather than a handicap in
many
 cases. If feedback on the documentation is sought while the product
is in
 the beta stage, many shortcomings can readily be remedied.

 Art

 On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 6:50 PM, Al Hartman wrote:

 > I don't agree. I wrote the user interface and the manual for the
CoCo
 > Greeting Card Designer, and many other Zebra products.
 >
 > What you have to do is sit down with the product on one side, and
your
 > word processor on the other and simply go through the steps of
using the
 > product explaining each decision point and the consequences of
making each
 > choice.
 >
 > Then, you can do a step by step straight through walkthrough of
bringing
 > up the product using the defaults as a quick start guide.
 >
 > It's easy. My manuals always get well reviewed as being thorough
and easy
 > to understand.
 >
 > -[ Al ]-
 >
 > -----Original Message----- From: Mark McDougall
 >
 > The developer should never, ever write documentation for users, or
other
 > developers, and there's very good reason for it. It's not the fault
of the
 > developer, but of the process.
 >
 > --
 > Coco mailing list
 > Coco at maltedmedia.com
 > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
 >

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