On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 07:31:53 -0700 "Laurie Campbell"
 writes:
> > that's about it. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've heard 
> 
>> > in meetings. And they all like to make you think they know what
>> they're 
>> > talking  about.
> 
>> jargon: it makes you sound so technical!
> 
> Yep - and you wouldn't believe the fight "we" have to keep it out of 
> our
> site in my new career. Every time we deal with anyone outside our 
> little
> group, they try to push jargon in, from our own PR man to the 
> government
> groups, real estate groups, lawyer, notaries, programmers - 
> everyone. 

I guess they think it makes them sound more knowledgable/precise.
Which is true in some of the sciences, but not always there.

> We
> is a stubborn, ornery, cantankerous four, we is.

Keep up the good fight.

> But unfortunately, haven't even yet (after all this time!) tried to 
> make
> "help" (on Microsoft computers, anyway - can't speak about any 
> other)
> that actually makes any sense, gives any help, or even addresses 
> the  question asked, much less in an intelligible way. 

Sorry, guess I'm corrupted -- I have no problem with it.
But then, I ignore most of the prose and cut to the command sequence.
[However, navigating any index is an art in itself.]


> That's one of them main things we're slaving over. The documentation 
> has
> to be understandable, recognizable, and the instructions have to 
> make sense to people who speak and read English. 

excellent!
Having been pretty key in designing the Long Form Financial Affidavit for
Colorado's family law community (the current version, though not mine,
still owes a lot to work I did), you have my full empathy.

> We have one field where   we
> send comments to each other that will never be seen by anyone but 
> us,

=g=

> then we have "help" buttons on each screen that open up 
> instructions
> about that screen that it's my responsibility to write.
> 
> Considering that I've been frustrated to tears over the 
> incomprehensible
> "help" messages from Microsoft I'm taking this *very* seriously. 

Help is best written, imho, by someone who actually USES the product --
it's an important perspective that many pros miss
(And should be proofed by a "naive" (newish) user; because pretty darn
quick you get spoiled for the job)

> Someone
> who has never seen this before must be able to figure out how to use 
> it.
> Someone who has English as a second or third language must be able 
> to
> understand the instructions. Someone who has only ever done 
> conveyance
> on paper, and has never tried to do anything online must be able to
> follow the procedure. Challenge doesn't even come into it!!

I have utmost faith in you....
[which is not to say the process won't be HARD.... but I know you will
conquer the task.]

> Remember when I had this idea that I was going to be able to spend 
> this  summer writing? Well, you know, I meant writing fiction. I am 
> writing,
> and supporting myself quite well doing so, but I haven't even been 
> able to look at my fiction since April. 

I'm sorry.
I know VERY well whereof you speak -- and am, perhaps, too resigned to my
fate; but there you have it. I'm a slave to known income.

> I'm working 10, 12, 14 hour days, 
> and
> through the weekends. No time. I've actually hired someone to keep 
> my  lawn mowed!! (That's a first for me.) No time - but there is money.

hopefully this push will crest and there will be less hectic times?
> 
> Despite how hard I'm working, and the pressures of the deadlines, I 
> feel as if I'm on holiday. 

well that's WONDERFUL; really!

> Every day that I'm slaving away, I look up 
> from my
> desk and I'm looking at roses blooming over my windows. Windows that 
> can
> open. Fresh, rose/lilac/rosemary/pine/new mown grass scented air. I
> can't believe I'm earning a living like this!! For the first time in 
> my
> life, if I won the lottery, quitting work would not be the first 
> thing
> I'd do. (Maybe after *this* project is finished - but maybe I'd 
> stay
> associated with the group so that I could be part of other 
> projects,
> too.)

=hugs=

> > > Veloci--just as befogged as before--raptor
> > 
> > sometimes a good thing to be 
> 
> But when there's something you must get done, the computer refuses 
> to do
> it, and when you click on "help" to find out why it won't do it, and 
> no
> matter how many ways you re-word and re-enter and re-think your 
> query
> you get no help, there's nothing good about it. 

what are you trying to do?

> Laurie would love to evict Microsoft insiders from their ivory 
> towers
> Phoenix 

Unfortunately, it runs up against brain wiring styles (and nomenclature,
which is also hard to predict) ... perhaps the future will be able to
decypher how best to "help" us?
OTOH, software's attempts to be smart so far have managed, often -- but
not always (I use Excel's "autofill" all the time, and gladly) -- to be
more intrusive than helpful.

The world is too wide and varied to clock universal mileage, tygress

=====
Drink your coffee! There are people in India sleeping. --t-shirt
=====
"Is it true that drinking coffee will make you look old?"
"Maybe if you drink it long enough like until you're about ninety."
--Bud Blake

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