🚀 go-pugleaf

> Actually, it's very easy to get a list of all of Word 4.0's commands key and
> menu assignments by using the Edit/Commands dialog. Simply press the List 
> button. This creates a new document consisting of a table listing every Word 
> command and its current assignments. If you want to know what a command does
> press the Help... button in the dialog. For Paste Special Character the Help
> button produces the text: "Inserts a special font character indicated by
> decimal code you type". The fact that Word can tell you what a command does
> at user request puts the lie to the claim the Paste Special Character command
> is "COMPLETELY undocumented".
>
> Dave Luebbert
> Microsoft Corporation

OK, you win, it's not COMPLETELY undocumented. It's just that in order to find
out about the feature, you have to already know about the feature. When we
started our quest to find the feature (we knew it was in 3.xx), we looked for
all the appropriate topics we could think of in indexes and tables of contents.

WHO WOULD GUESS THIS FEATURE WOULD BE FOUND UNDER PASTE? OR SPECIAL CHARACTER?
We tried Code (suggested from the old feature), ASCII, literal, insert, and
several others, but a group of people spent a half hour on it without getting
it from the manual. Another member of the group found it first by experimen-
tation.

To top it off, when we DID find it, we looked it up under the name Paste
Special Character in the dictionary-style list of topics in the reference
manual. No go. It turns out the discussion is in the "Keyboard" section,
under Paste Special Character. I've gone back and asked people later if
they had seen that, and one person remembers scanning it and rejecting
it as unlikely - mostly because they thought it meant some sort of special
paste operation, as in a variation of the typical paste. I think, but cannot
say for sure, that I did exactly the same thing. In other words, a quick scan
got no farther than "Paste Special..." and the name was rejected as unlikely.

This is a difficult area, I know because I also write user manuals. Believe me,
I sympathize. It is difficult to remember that when the going is hot and heavy,
and you can't find the information you want, you are in the WORST frame of mind
for being able to scan for alternate names, or to figure out THE COMPANY'S name
for whatever it is you are looking for. In this case, several people worked on
it, and at least I had felt that I had gone through the documentation pretty
thoroughly beforehand. The documentation did not anticipate our expectations.

The problem is made worse when the user has a totally different expectation of
how the feature will work than the way it has been implemented. This is the
fault of neither the vendor nor the user, and often the user will understand
the implementation philosophy immediately when it is explained. It's just that
the expectations the user brings to the task (from background, from experience,
or from cultural heritage) may be different. It is the job of the writer to
anticipate all this. (The process is also made difficult when the product is at
variance with established standards, say, Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.
Bruce Tognazzini's article about non-modal modal dialog boxes is particularly
apposite. July 89 Apple Direct)

It is incumbent on the writers to index under EVERY LIKELY title that people
may think of when they search for the feature, not just the name that the
feature has been assigned for that package. That's a tall order, and Microsoft
isn't alone in doing a less-than-perfect job. However, the lack of user-
orientation as opposed to "official" orientation seems pretty strong in Word
documentation.

If Microsoft differs with this opinion, they should listen to their customers
instead of trying to shout them down. I am certainly not alone in my critical
assessment, if my incoming mailbox is to be believed.

-- 
-Brian Diehm
Tektronix, Inc.                (503) 627-3437         briand@tekig4.LEN.TEK.COM
P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-383
Beaverton, OR   97077                        (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply)