Re: Predicates
Re: Predicates
- Subject: Re: Predicates
- From: "I. Savant" <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:20:20 -0500
On Dec 27, 2007, at 11:49 AM, Ken Ferry wrote:
The rest of the docs assume you understand the
fundamentals.
This seems to be the part that people have a lot of trouble with.
It reminds me of a recurring problem that pops up every other month it
seems.
Now and again a user will write to complain that the Help Book for
one of my apps is "worthless", etc. They cite lines like this:
"To export the selected item as a Microsoft Word document, drag the
item from the list into the Finder. A Word document will be created in
the location to which the item was dragged."
Invariably, it's not-so-savvy users who complain that the manual
doesn't tell them 1) what the Finder is, 2) how to open a new Finder
window to the folder of their choice, and 3) how to position the
windows so that both are visible for the drag.
They don't like being told they must be familiar with "the basics"
because they view it as insulting. After all, the manual should give
precise instructions, right? The few times users pursued the argument,
I asked them at what level of detail should the documentation stop?
Should it include a copy of the OS X Help Book? Finder's? Should it
document how to "drag" things? Should it go on to explain how to use
the mouse to do so? How to plug in the mouse? Of course not. It makes
sense only for the documentation about "Application X" to include
instructions for using "Application X", not the Finder, OS X, or the
computer. There are other Help Books for that and it's up to the user
to read them.
The bottom line is that all documentation and reference material
require at least some skill at using reference material in general.
It's up to you to recognize an unfamiliar topic referenced by the
current documentation you're reading and look it up and cross-
reference it. This is not specific to the Cocoa documentation; it's
how learning works.
In short, mmalc and Ken are absolutely correct: you *must* learn
the basics. You may have gotten pretty far building your app using
Bindings, but you're getting hung up on one of the most basic and
important bits of prerequisite knowledge and there is quite simply no
way around your problem short of finding someone else to do it for you
(who subsequently *has* read what you need to read).
None of this is meant to be rude, but simply the hard reality. You
must read, read, read.
--
I.S.
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