Documentation & Books

[Ken Ray]

Amen, Chipp... 

<irked>
Sorry, but it is difficult for me to believe that some one who opens the
documentation for the first time (seeing the Roadmap page) where there is a
"Search the Documentation..." link would think they would get *more* results
by clicking on an *item* in the list ("Transcript Language Dictionary") and
then executing a search. Sorry, but the first page says "About the
Documentation", then "All Documentation by Category", then "Search the
Documentation". It isn't hard to make the cognitive "leap" that searching
the documentation means searching ALL of the documentation. Come on, people!
</irked>

That said (and my blood pressure reduced), I *can* imagine that someone who
is looking for the right token to work with arrays would go to the TLD and
search for "array". However you'll note that the only time you get nothing
as a result is when the popup to the left of the field says "Filter with:"
or "Scroll to:"; if you actually pick "Search for:", looking for "array"
provides a lot of items (although granted, many of them are not applicable).

Perhaps it has more to do with the arrangement of the documentation than the
docs itself - perhaps the "Search the Documentation" link should be more
prominent, or that the results are weighted, or some combination. For
example, when I search the docs on "array", I see "How to create an array
variable" pretty quickly in the list. 

However IMHO the point is moot, as 2.3 will have a revised interface for
getting through the docs, so I'd suggest taking a look at that *first* and
then making suggestions later after we've all had a chance to digest it and
work with it.

And with that, I take my leave of this subject until the new docs are out...

:-)

Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com
Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/



> -----Original Message-----
> From: use-revolution-bounces at lists.runrev.com 
> [mailto:use-revolution-bounces at lists.runrev.com] On Behalf Of 
> Chipp Walters
> Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 4:41 PM
> To: How to use Revolution
> Subject: Re: Documentation & Books
> 
> 
> Aw c'mon, it's not as hard as digging for diamonds. Just look 
> under the 
> "HELP" menu (funny it should be *there*) ;-)
> 
> 
> Marian Petrides wrote:
> 
> > The point being that the cognoscenti know to use the Search
> > Documentation tool, but a rank beginner would not.
> 
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