Re: FW: WinHelp 95 help approach

[Kent Newton <KentN -at- METRIX-INC -dot- COM>]

You make a valid point, Win.  The important thing, regardless of whether
a writer chooses to produce on-line help or paper manual, is to provide
the appropriate information in language the reader can understand.  From
what I've read here, most people seem to think Win 95's documentation --
help and manual --is seriously lacking.

Kent Newton
Senior Technical Writer
Metrix, Inc.
kentn -at- metrix-inc -dot- com

 ----------
From:  Win Day[SMTP:winday -at- idirect -dot- com]
Sent:  Wednesday, January 24, 1996 6:05 PM
To:  Kent Newton
Subject:  Re: FW: WinHelp 95 help approach

Besides, what if I don't know how to phrase what I want?  I haven't found
that "Full Text Search" to be terribly useful.

Besides, just because I can FIND something doesn't mean I can understand
how
to USE it.  In trying to learn about Word's field codes, I can find an
entry
for each code complete with syntax.  But the help information doesn't
explain how or when to use each bit of the code, or whether a different
code
might work better.

I don't have any local experts to fall back on.  I'm the only writer; my
client just switched from WP5.1 for DOS to Word7; I'm learning as fast as

can.

IMHO, the "manual" that came with the Office suite is suited only for
absolute beginners.  The online help, especially for field codes, reminds
power users of the proper syntax.  There's no way, using the references
available, to move from being an intermediate user to being an expert
user.

Win
 --------------

At 11:32 AM 1/24/96 PST, you wrote:
>Win95. Full Text Search.

>Now you can find everything.

>Loryn

Win Day
Technical Writer/Editor
Email: winday -at- idirect -dot- com