Re: Why manuals? I'll tell you why...

["Arlen P. Walker" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

      Until there is a way to put in my own cross-references or add terms to
      the index, I want a _book_  within arm's reach.  A book with paper pages
      that I can mark up with my own comments.  A book where I can fold down a
      corner of the page to mark something I keep forgetting because I only use
      it twice a year.  If you, as a software developer or hardware
      manufacturer won't give me one, then I will choose another application or
      instrument.  If that isn't an option, I will purchase my hard-copy crutch
      somewhere else and bitch like hell in every forum I can find until you
      change your policy.

Amen, Kat. On-line documentation is nice, I use it when I can. But it requires
having access to a computer with the software already installed. I'm not always
near the machine or the software. I'll take the manual for new software home and
curl up in my chair with some Ginseng when I'm learning about a new tool. If I
want to know if a certain package will do what I need it to do, I'll borrow the
manual from someone and see what it can do. Of course, if the manual's terrible,
the company will lose the sale. (For one thing, it tells me the company isn't
interested in getting the details right, so what *other* corners have they cut?)

One more good use for manuals: they give me a look at how other people lay out
information. I may be good, but I'm not so good that I can't learn (or "borrow")
from someone else's approach. ;{>}

Have fun,
Arlen


Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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