Re: To document Windows functions or not?

Subject: Re: To document Windows functions or not?
From: "Melinda M. Carr" <melindac -at- CAPSOFT -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 1996 09:32:02 -0800

<<The product is targeted for a specialized, professional market, and it is
expected that users will already be comfortable with Windows software.>>

But are they? Our main market is legal professionals who already own and use a
Windows word processor. Some of our users are very computer savvy. OTOH, I talked
to an attorney last week who didn't know how to delete files from the File Manager
in Win 3.1. (He was a WordPerfect user and had always deleted files from within
WordPerfect.) He is not alone in his level of knowledge. If users can't find out
how to do something, they will blame you.

The rule we follow is that if a command appears on our menu, we document it. If
they might need to use a command in another program (their word processor, File
Manager, etc.) we refer them to that program's documentation. (Our software runs
inside Windows word processors.)

We find that as we gain more market share we need to assume less and less about our
users' computer savvy.

Melinda
(melindac -at- capsoft -dot- com)


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