RE: Bubble Your Pleasure, Bubble Your Fun

["Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

"Mark Baker" <mbaker -at- ca -dot- stilo -dot- com> wrote:

>
>And besides, it is the optional extra features that are complicated. The
>basic functions that most of us want are pretty simple these days. And if we
>do need the optional extras, we always know somebody who can figure out how
>they work.
>
>I keep coming back to this point, but I think it is vital to understanding
>what is happening. The social context of information is vital. Most people
>do not turn to documentation as their first resort. >

Mark,

I was with you. Your well reasoned arguments, stated eloquently, can be hypnotic. But I came up short when I got to this passage. 

There is a major factor you are leaving out. Most people do not buy anything from manufacturers. They buy from retailers. And the retailers they are most likely to buy from are Wal*Mart followed by a bunch of formerly large chains followed by everyone else. And Wal*Mart takes documentation _very_ seriously. They do not want people returning stuff because they can't figure out how it works. When people do that, Wal*Mart trashes the goods and debits the vendor. And if you think Wal*Mart doesn't like the hassle, you can bet the vendors don't like the debits.

If you will recall, not that many years ago buying a piece of assemble-it-yourself furniture at a discount store was an adventure in poor documentation. Same for appliances, consumer electronics, ... most anything. We all used to joke about the stuff that came out of Korea, for example, translated by someone who had studied one semester of English and probably failed it. You don't see that much any more, do you? Why? Because of Wal*Mart.

So I think the demand for good doc is going to continue for a long time to come, at least with any company that supplies products to Wal*Mart, whether consumers "demand" it or not.

Dick

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Robohelp X3, from eHelp, lets you quickly and easily create 
professional Help systems for all your Windows and Web-based 
applications, including Net. 

Order RoboHelp X3 in May and receive a $100 mail-in rebate, PLUS
free RoboScreenCapture and WebHelp Merge Module. 
 
Order RoboHelp today: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.