RE: The Ancestral Territorial Imperatives of the Trumpeter Swan

["McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>]

David Neeley reminisced: 
 
> Believe it or not, that was the title used instead of "Getting
> Started" in the early 1980s manual for the Franlin Ace 100 computer,
> and for its replacement the Ace 1000.
> 
> See excerpts and why they used it in reproductions at the 
> Ironic Sans blog.
> 
> <http://www.ironicsans.com/>
> 
> Which brings me to something of a lament that most manuals today seem
> to lack personality, let alone humor.
> 
> I have long been a fancier of a very conversational style for user
> manuals (within reason, of course)--avoiding the stuffy verbiage that
> so often seems to stem from an over-reliance on a legal department.
> 
> There's something about users enjoying a manual that seems to me to
> mean it may be more memorable, inviting a user into it--and, with
> luck, cutting down on user frustration and tech support overhead at
> the same time.
> 
> I can imagine that most docs managers today would have a heart attack
> over the Franklin approach, though.

Somewhat later (the '90s), HavenTree, a small software company based 
in Kingston, Ontario, Canada made a nice little flow-charting 
app called "EasyFlow". 

Their manual (done by a programmer, skydiving buddy and jump pilot 
at that time) was in a breezy, chatty style. It started with the 
"usual" warnings and disclaimers, including an injunction to not 
copy/steal their stuff or they would have to sic their legal sharks 
on you. 

Anyplace I've ever worked has been a LOT stuffier than that.  :-)

 - K 

http://www.mens-health-tips.com/terms-and-conditions.html





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