RE: Open...

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Gene Kim-Eng wrote: 
 
> My current gig is my first in close to 20 years where the user gets the
> product
> at retail or finds it wrapped and ribboned under a Xmas tree, and it's
> given me
> a renewed perspective on why software is so often reviled by mass consumer
> users.  When someone is uninitiated to the point where they'll call tech
> support
> for help locating a physical button on the device because the manual said
> "select the <name> button" without an image that clearly shows it's a SW UI
> element, you can't assume that same person is going to realize that "Open"
> is
> the same as "Open..." or that they won't grumble about confusing product
> instructions to 10 friends who will pass the complaint to 10 of their
> friends,
> resulting in 100 lost potential customers.

Which brings us back to "know your audience." Operators of heavy equipment and machinery, users of shrink-wrapped software from Best Buy, and network administrators configuring a rack of video conference managers, media servers, and call servers represent three rather different audiences. :-)


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
------






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