Forum New Look

[JV Puleo]

On 7/31/2017 at 4:10 AM, vermontboy said:

 

Have any of these designers taken a basic graphics course? 

 

Probably No. It has been my experience that all computer geeks can't really imagine someone who simply regards it as a tool and isn't the slightest bit interested in their showing off their ability to make things confusing.

[maok]

On ‎29‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 0:30 AM, Steve Moskowitz said:

Well, in the world of software things can change in a nanosecond.  Just got word that there is now a plug-in to bring back the numbering system.  Give us some time to get it installed.

 

Any chance of it being in Roman numerals....:)

[Luv2Wrench]

12 hours ago, JV Puleo said:

 

Probably No. It has been my experience that all computer geeks can't really imagine someone who simply regards it as a tool and isn't the slightest bit interested in their showing off their ability to make things confusing.

 

I'm a computer programmer and I greatly resemble that remark!!

 

[JV Puleo]

I'm sure there are exceptions to every rule.One of the problems people who are immersed in a subject have – and I include myself in that category – is that we easily lose track of the view from a person new to our subject or (as in the case of computers) simply uninterested in the subject beyond the bare essentials. I find myself very critical of writers who specialize in my subject when they want to use highly technical terms that are unintelligible to the general public. I think its a universal failing and, as such, demands extra care to avoid.

 

I remember my late mother learning to use her computer. The instructions repeatedly said "hit the escape key," except her computer didn't have a key labeled "escape" and nowhere did they say this was the "return" key. This sort of thing happens constantly. I spent half an hour trying to pay my internet bill last week because the company redesigned their web site so that the "pay bill" option no longer showed. I finally had to use the "live chat" option (which didn't work very well) to find out how to send them some money.

Edited August 4, 2017 by JV Puleo
hit save too soon & spelling (see edit history)

[padgett]

"all computer geeks can't really imagine someone who simply regards it as a tool " - guess it is a good thing I don't bite the heads off chickens. Used to spend 1/3 of my time on the coding and 2/3 on the error handling.

Edited August 6, 2017 by padgett (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

Over the past 30 years I've had to master four completely different families of professional graphic design programs, starting with machines that ran off 8-track punched tape and now using a program on a  Mac platform that integrates the photography and all sorts of special effects that were nearly impossible 30 years ago. That isn't counting program upgrades, some of which can be almost as confusing as changing systems altogether. The computer is a tool to me... one I use every day in a professional setting. I am also the co-author of two books on the how to disassemble and reassemble military firearms so I have a pretty keen sense of what is required to write directions that the general, non specialist reader will understand. I have yet to read any computer related instructions that fail to presume more knowledge on the part of the reader than many have. Just the continuous use of industry related jargon, without explanation, is confusing. I spend a lot of time editing that sort of thing out of the books and articles I work with so I've little sympathy for computer enthusiasts who fail to make a similar effort.

Edited August 7, 2017 by JV Puleo
typo (see edit history)

[Ronnie]

On 8/4/2017 at 2:23 PM, JV Puleo said:

I remember my late mother learning to use her computer. The instructions repeatedly said "hit the escape key," except her computer didn't have a key labeled "escape" and nowhere did they say this was the "return" key. This sort of thing happens constantly.

 

What kind of computer did she have? In 1982 William Shatner's commercial convinced me to buy a Commodore VIC-20 computer complete with a cassette recorder to load programs into the VIC. I had to learn to write my own programs for it because there were only a handful of programs for it that you could buy.  The "return" key on it (and other odd ball computers I've owned) was equivalent to the "Enter" key on modern day computers. The "escape" key was a "<---" back arrow key.

[JV Puleo]

I've no idea. Maybe it was "enter" and not "escape" that was the problem. That was a long time ago... she died last November at age 97 and I'd junked the computer long before that. It was a PC clone of some sort because I couldn't be of much help to her or my father, having never had anything except Macs. The point is the same... the instructins were almost worthless because their authors presumed that the reader knew almost as much as they did.

Edited August 7, 2017 by JV Puleo
typo (see edit history)

[Ronnie]

3 minutes ago, JV Puleo said:

The point is the same... the instructins were almost worthless because their author presumed that the reader knew almost as much as they did.

I agree. I like programs that are intuitive enough that you don't need instructions.

[Spinneyhill]

That has always been the problem - finding out what the procedure you were looking for was called. It changes between software developers.

Edited August 10, 2017 by Spinneyhill (see edit history)

[Spinneyhill]

Is it just me? I cannot open pdf or xlsx attachments any more. They come up with an XML document tree.

[padgett]

Spiney: Check your defaults. This gives a good explanation. May need to goto (Basic) "choose default apps by file type". If the program you want to make the default is not in the selection list it gets more difficult but is still possible.

 

I deal a lot with newbies.

[Spinneyhill]

2 hours ago, padgett said:

I deal a lot with newbies.

Thank you for your reply. I know about file types. I am an old hand at this stuff, although perhaps a bit out of date. I cut my teeth in DOS 3.1 (in which I found a bug) and 3.3. I knew many of the interrupts and function calls 30 years ago.

 

I have tracked the problem to some security software. It was telling me it was an unsafe download because of attempted cross-sight scripting. Once I twigged and told it to download there was no problem.

[padgett]

I go back a bit further. Used to write AV freeware. Anymore I just use Windows Defender plus EMET set "paranoid" & UAC set max. It works for me.

[mrspeedyt]

it's all a mystery to me. (and during vietnam... in the navy i was a aviation electronics technician! )?

Edited August 11, 2017 by mrspeedyt (see edit history)