One thing I learned long ago, what is intuitive to me might not be
intuitive for you.
True as our experience, education and knowledge levels are different.
And that's the basis of intuitiveness. It is not innate. It is learned.
As for manuals, most manuals these days are poorly written, poorly
organized, and poorly indexed (if at all). They aren't as comprehensive
or contain as much information as they used to. I've got the MS manuals
for MS Office 4.3 Professional (Windows for Workgroups days). The pages
are 7.5" X 9", and take up 8" of shelf space. And the manuals came with
the software.
These days, a manual from MS is about 3" thick, sometimes less, and cost
just about as much as the programs. :-( Do you really think that
everything that can be done with the Windows 7 operating system can be
put in a book 1.5" thick? The cover makes a big deal about an included
CD, but the only thing on that is an electronic copy of the book. This
is Windows 7 Inside Out, from Microsoft Press.
Online manuals seem to be the worst overall. And never as easy to use
as something on your desk. I don't buy the argument that paper manuals
are hard to keep updated. You can solve that by the way you create and
setup a manual. I solved that problem years ago.
I agree. Today's software documentation, even when it exists, is
extremely lacking. (And I refused to spend $40 or more for a third party
manual that the software company should provide in the first place.) But
this lack should never be an excuse for not taking, at least, a cursory
reading. Any knowledge gained is better than none at all.
I'm guilty of not reading manuals, anymore. If you ask why, it's
because the answers I'm seeking are almost never there. As I just
mentioned, today's manuals are just not comprehensive overall.
Your choice. But your loss also. Even a poorly written manual (or
pamphlet as most seem these days to be) can provide a foundation, no
matter how incomplete, for further learning.
Another problem with online manuals is many times the manual for one
language is not written by a knowledgeable writer for whom the selected
language is the native language. I've noticed this to be more true with
open source software, like Gparted.
I've come across this, too. Usually the "manual" is written by the
programmer himself (or herself), who is definitely NOT a technical
writer, or any kind of writer for that matter. Mainly, writing the
instructions is just not "fun" like writing code. So, they spend as
little time, if any, on it.
Yes, open source software is plagued by this. I've been dealing with it
for years, and many times am relegated to figuring out how to use
software by trial and error--mostly error--and perhaps, because of that,
further increasing my intuitiveness.
One thing that has helped is online (and offline) language translation
software. Lousy for Dickens or Steinbeck, but good enough for docs. And
so finally are gone my days of manual translation hell.
Stef
