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>I tried using it, as I had to make a drawing, something I know nothing
>about, and the help system just looped me around and around. And the
>manual just told me to go to the online help.
Janis' article reminded me of what happened when I tried to learn WP51.
In my opinion, WP51 (DOS) had a good mix between the online help and the
manual. For those of you unfamiliar with the product, they have a
godawful =long=, unwielding reference book. The thing's probably close
to three inches thick, has a small font (around 10 point), and is not
user friendly. It is, however, a wonderful reference book once you know
the basics of the program. It goes into in depth detail on how to do
whatever the process is.
The "help" feature on the other hand is user-friendly. It doesn't have
the fancy windows--just a text explanation of the particular function.
You can either access it by going to the help-key index, or you can press
help from inside the function. It's great for just experimenting, or as
a prompt to remind you how to do a particular feature.
I use both the manual and the help functions for different reasons: the
manual if I need to do something fairly complex and the help key as a
prompt. Even though the manual is godawful intimidating--and the help
feature isn't fancy--I still think WP came up with one of the best
combinations of online and offline help around.
Nancy Hayes (nancyh -at- pmafire -dot- inel -dot- gov)
