menu woes...

[SimPLsol at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/29/04 16:51:27, ambassador at fourthworld.com writes:


> taxonomy
> 

Richard,
I agree with you that a good taxonomy for the current documentation would 
help. My experience with Rev. is that there is good intermediate help and good 
advanced help but weak beginning help. Even Dan's book is post-beginner. And 
that's alright if there was good coverage of the basics elsewhere.
Incidentally, the stack you and I were working on was Contacts; Jeanne and I 
worked on Schedules; different issues. One of the bizarre things in Contacts, 
if you remember, was the fact that it had two menus (one of which was the 
original HyperCard background!). The documentation could not have anticipated 
that. Besides, my complaint in not really with the documentation. If menus could 
be implemented in a more reliable way, LESS documentation would be required.
I think there are different levels of documentation. There is the "final", 
"this is how it is supposed to work" docs. and "working" docs. which guide one 
around the pot holes until they can be fixed. The first type exists. This list 
takes the place of the second - but the list doesn't get summarized in one 
convenient place that has a list of problems (call them FAQs) and proposed 
workarounds. Consequently, people ask the same questions again and again; if you 
don't follow the list daily you can miss problems and solutions; it is hard to 
find answers to old questions.
Paul Looney