Re: Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

Subject: Re: Dept. of Redundancy Dept.
From: nancy ott <ott -at- ANSOFT -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 09:20:37 EDT

Woops! Didn't want to start a flame war (or is it a "Frame" war? :-)
over a system message, but I feel compelled to reply. (Matt, if this
reiterates some of the points I made in my email, please bear with
me.)

The fact that Framemaker displays this message doesn't bug me in the
slightest. I appreciate the difficulty of telling users how to
configure a product for various window managers -- there are few easy
or graceful ways to do it. Displaying a startup message is as good a
way as any.

However, what did bother me was the "Before Using Framemaker for the
first time" part of the message. Telling users to read a manual
that's available only in the software's on-line help before running
the software in the first place just doesn't make sense.

I would rephrase the meassage to read something like this:

: Before creating and editing documents in FrameMaker, be sure to read
: the online manual "Changing Setup Files" for information on
: configuring Frame products for use with various window managers.
: It is available in FrameMaker's on-line help system.

This eliminates the logical inconsistency, and lets the user know
where the on-line manual is located -- a piece of information that is
not included in the original message.

I still think the message as it stands now deserves "Department of
Redundancy Dept." status.

- nancy

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nancy ott |
Ansoft Corp. | Bigger! Better! Faster! More! Now!
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