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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Usability Bugs and.....?
From:       "Brett I.Holcomb" <bholcomb () cableone ! net>
Date:       2001-09-04 16:41:52
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> > As a user, the first place I feel usability can be improved is with the
> > help.  The help for some of the items is unacceptable for a version 2.x
> > release.
>
> understand that many of the items in this "version 2 release" are actually
> the first version for that application/part. there are very few pieces that
> can be traced back to kde1. that isn't an acceptable excuse, of course.

> help files can be written by anyone who who is familiar with the program
> and can write. this means that not just programmers can write the things.
> this is one area that users ought to get more involved in IMO to get as
> close to 100% help coverage as possible. there are some documentation
> writers already doing this, but they are few and the programs are many =)

I understand the aversion to writting docs but I've found I have to do it 
(mainly because I forget what I did three months ago and the docs help me 
remember why I wrote it that way<G>).  There needs to be more than a list of 
who wrote the program and that it does something.  Hopefully the authors can 
provide a good outline and detail on what the program should do and how to 
troubleshoot it for start.


>
> >  There was one app I went to for help and it gave some smart alec
> > comment.
>
> heh. open source hackers tend to have senses of humour, and they often
> imbue their applications with their own personalities. i find it
> refreshing, though good help pages would be nice as well..

Yes, I have been tempted to write things like that in my docs and I have no 
problem with a sense of humor.  However, Linux is at least being considered 
by many as an alternative to Windows and finding comments like that don't 
help especially when you're frustrated <G>!  Right now I'm busy learning my 
distro and I'm documenting everything I do and I've converted on  install to 
a guide for people with my distro.  At some point I very much want to get 
involved more but time is scare at this point.

> perhaps you could take your expereince as a sign to learn that particular
> application well so you can write some documentation to replace the smart
> alec comment with? =)
>
> > In addition KDE 2.2 doesn't let you search the help anymore - that's not
> > good!
>
> fortunately that won't be a long term feature ;-)

Great - glad to hear that!
-- 

Brett I. Holcomb
Microsoft MVP
Associate Expert
AKA Grunt <><
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