Re: AS adoption barriers [Starter Kit]
Re: AS adoption barriers [Starter Kit]
- Subject: Re: AS adoption barriers [Starter Kit]
- From: Mr Tea <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 10:57:04 +0100
This from Chris Nebel - dated 25/9/01 5.27 am:
>
Does anyone here bother to read the online help? You know, the stuff in the
>
"Help" menu?
It's a problem of definition. For many people, help is something you ask for
when something's gone wrong and you don't know how to fix it, otherwise you
ask for information, directions, advice, intstruction, guidance - not help.
I didn't discover AppleScript because it was mentioned in the help system. I
found it because the Script Editor was right there in the Launcher when I
got my first Mac (Performa 5200/System 7.5) out of the box, so I figured it
had to be something important, and it was clearly connected to those
mysterious 'Automated Tasks' in the Apple Menu...
That first Mac also came with a couple of little 'getting started with your
performa' multimedia presentaions - and it's a shame there was nothing like
that on the iMac. Apple should revive this practice, and include a 'let your
Mac do the work for you' section introducing AppleScript.
Visibility is the key, and although there is excellent info in the help
centre, it just isn't visible enough. Making the script editor and some
useful scripts conspicuous on newly installed systems is a start, but
having a script menu and scheduler built in to the Mac OS would boost
AppleScript's profile far more effectively.
Mr Tea
--
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