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Subject:RE: shortcuts to docs from Start menu From:"Jessica N. Lange" <jlange -at- oee -dot- com> To:"TechWR-L" <TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 19 Jul 2000 07:55:11 -0400
> Of those of you who document Windows-based software,
> does your installation process put a shortcut to the
> documentation (either on-line help or .pdfs) on the
> Start menu or an application-specific sub-menu from
> Start?
Yes, the latter. The sw developers did that on their own;
I had no input on that decision.
A quick check of my start menu shows that these sw apps
also do so (I did not count any "readme" 's):
DemoShield, Creative, CyberMedia Uninstaller,
RealPlayer, 3 com NIC, WinZip, eXceed,
ForeHelp (demo), HelpBreeze, MS Intellipoint (mouse),
MS IntelliType, MS Personal Web Manager, WS-FTP
(interesting how some MS apps don't follow their own
convention!)
And of those major programs I use frequently, I have added
their help to my Start menu: the first item on the Start menu
is "Help" and under it I've put CorelDraw Help, MS Word Help,
and Help Workshop, among others.
To be very honest, tho', I agree with Jeff---I seldom access
Help from outside a program. When I was developing my
very first WinHelp project however, I frequently did so.
Unlike him, I almost never use my Start menu, so extra
items don't bother me. (I use a very customized Office Shortcut
Bar always visible on the top of my screen to start programs)
