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Perhaps because many technical writers, like so many other users, don't read
the documentation unless they can't figure out what they need to know from
the design of the interface. And sometimes not even then.
It is *not* clear in the interface how to do this, unlike the messages you
get when you start some programs that hace a check box that says something
on the order of "Don't show this again." To hide such useful information
from users (or to bury it in the docs) is presumptuous and arrogant on the
part of the programmers and designers.
--
--
"I don't entirely understand it but it is true: Highly skilled
carpenters don't get insulted when told they are not architects,
but highly skilled programmers do get insulted when told
they are not UI designers."
- anonymous programmer quoted in "GUI Bloopers"
Chuck Martin
User Assistance & Experience Engineer
twriter "at" sonic "dot" net www.writeforyou.com
P.S. Missed you at the conference last month.
"MMdeaton" <mmdeaton -at- mmdeaton -dot- com> wrote in message news:101036 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
>
> It bothers me that technical writers, who presumably write Help files as
> well, have spent four years wondering how to get rid of Clippy when it is
> quite clearly documented in the Microsoft documentation. Not to mentioin
> those 3,000+ pages on the Web about how to turn off Clippy.
>
>
> Mary Deaton
> (206) 323-0701
> Clippy Farewell : http://home.mindspring.com/~mmdeaton/default.htm
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