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Re: my bad displays habit

Subject: Re: my bad displays habit
From: "Karen L. Zorn" <k -dot- zorn -at- zorntech -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:55:55 -0700

A long time ago in a state far, far away, I wrote course ware for those brand new personal computers, starting with the Apple IIe, Kapro, and eventually the chicklet PC. The courses were published on audio cassettes with a handy-dandy quick reference guide. As part of our QA, all scripts were recorded by the authors, then tested by live, naive students. It quickly became apparent that you must keep in mind where the learner is and what they should see on the monitor.

That do-this, this-happens (or you see this) habit has continued to this day, some 30 years later. Yes, you can go overboard, but I'd rather have procedures that support the user than to leave them guessing, frustrated, and in the end angry with your product.

Karen Zorn
ZornTech LLC

Suzanne Chiles wrote:

<snip>

We always assume our readers will read every word we say and perform the
task exactly as we described. I don't think that's fair assumption in the
real world. At least having a step result lets the user know if they're on
the right track or not.

<snip>

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Follow-Ups:

References:
Re: my bad displays habit: From: Mike Starr
Re: my bad displays habit: From: Suzanne Chiles

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