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Subject:Re: Is wildcard functionality well known enough? From:Barry Campbell <barry -dot- campbell -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 4 Nov 2004 10:56:38 -0500
On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 07:45:02 -0800 (PST), John Posada
<jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
> Now...with an audience of average PC literate corporate America, is
> it enough to explain that the [wildcard searching with asterisk] functionality
> now exists with a simple sentence or two explanation or could there be
> those out there that don't understand this functionality and need a full
> explanation along with examples?
John,
In my experience, "search" in its various incarnations is poorly
understood by most computer users, even something as simple as a
wildcard search. I would vote for the full-blown explanation with
examples.
I occasionally give demos at work of all the cool search strategies
you can use with Google, for instance, and most folks are stunned and
amazed. Jaws drop. It's really something.
What you're describing - simple wildcard searching - isn't nearly as
complex or involved, of course. But taking the time to really
describe it thoroughly won't harm the people who already know how to
do it and will really help the (in my opinion and experience)
surprisingly large fraction of people who don't.
Just be thankful you don't have to teach them how to use grep.
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