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Subject:RE: Mac vs PC users From:"Sharon Burton" <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com> To:<dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com>, "'Tim J. Slager'" <TSlager -at- isdcorporation -dot- com> Date:Tue, 6 Jul 2010 14:04:18 -0700
Mouse. Most people use the mouse when they use a GUI. Use the most obvious
way to use the mouse - like menus and such. Keyboardists like me will
quickly learn the keyboard stuff because we're motivated.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sharon=anthrobytes -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Deborah Hemstreet
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 1:55 PM
To: Tim J. Slager
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Mac vs PC users
Tim,
I"m inclined to agree - but I don't know WHICH Of the three or four or five
ways is the preferred way to work!!!
Deborah
On 07/06/2010 1:16 PM, Tim J. Slager wrote:
> I make a practice of NOT including every method of doing something. When
users access help, they want to get a job done, so you help them do that.
Telling them all the ways to do it just slows them down. There should be one
topic to help them learn about different ways to do stuff, and it should
point to some Mac resources.
>
> I do sometimes switch between methods, so that users can learn on the fly
about different ways, but mostly I go with the one way that I perceive as
the easiest/fastest or as the most appropriate for the users.
>
> tims
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+tslager=isdcorporation -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+tslager=isdcorporation -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> ] On Behalf Of Deborah Hemstreet
> Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 11:22 AM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Mac vs PC users
>
> I once had a supervisor get angry with my writing. She complained that
any idiot off the street could install our hi-tech medical systems because
of my instructions. I thought that was good.
>
> She made me take out a lot of "basic" stuff. Two years later the new
Service and Support manager complained that my instructions were not
complete enough. That he had "idiots" in the field... and they needed to be
nursed through everything.
>
> I suppose, and perhaps I'm wrong, but if I'm writing online Help and the
procedure is about Saving a File, To save a file 1. On the File menu... The
save dialog box appears...
> 2. In the Save dialog box...
>
> I SUPPOSE I could leave all that out. BUT assuming (bad word, my mom used
to say ass=u+me=assume) that someone is looking up how to save a file, the
instructions should be complete. I don't think I need to say it over and
over... but IF this is HELP, then the information should be there for the
beginner as well as for the advanced user.
>
> My problem, is there is a lot of stuff that everyone keeps telling me, MAC
users know how to use it. I ask, but what about people who are new to MAC.
And I am told, "It is all so intuitive". Then why, if it is all so
intuitive, am I translating 900 pages of a documentation to online HELP?
>
> From my perspective, it is terribly confusing to have up to 4-key
combinations for keyboard shortcuts, AND to have as many as three or four
different ways to do the same thing.
>
> I am writing so many instructions about those FOUR methods it's driving me
nuts! As a user, I get confused when there are too many ways to do the same
thing. I asked what the preferred method was, and answer:
> "Everyone is different, we know x is not done much, but someone might
complain if we take it out, and we put y in because someone else complained,
and of course we have to have Z because that is the MAC way of doing it..."
>
> I will survive... I know its Tuesday but feels like Monday!
>
> Thanks!
>
> Deborah
>
> On 07/06/2010 11:06 AM, Tim Murray wrote:
>>> Are there any studies out there that anyone knows of that compare how
MAC users interact with computers compared to PC users?
>>>
>>> Are MAC users quicker learners?
>>>
>>> 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."
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