RE: Mac vs PC users

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

Tim Murray very sensibly said:
[...]
> > I"m writing some Help for a MAC application, and a lot of 
> the feedback I get is, EVERYONE knows this - you don't have 
> to explain it (such as what happens when I click File > Save, 
> or what an Action button is, etc.
> 
> The issues are the same, it's just that the actions to 
> perform a task seem to be easier to grasp on a Mac than in 
> Windows. (And it's Mac, not MAC. Mac is an abbreviation, not 
> an acronym or initialism.)
> 
> In other words, if someone doesn't know anything about the 
> concept of saving files, then they'll need more information. 
> But unless you're writing about their very first app, I'd say 
> just "save the file."


If there's any doubt as to the naiveté/sophistication of the 
audience, make "save the file" an expanding text link. 

If you are concerned that such basic stuff behind some 
expanding text links will put off more sophisticated users... 
who might then avoid opening all expanding text (including
some that might do 'em good), then develop a color code or 
other typographical convention for the links, to distinguish 
"EVERYONE knows this" from "here's some sophisticated background 
to the gnarly content on this page".



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