RE: Post-holiday reality: They don't need our stinkin' manuals??

[Jean Weber <jean -at- wrevenge -dot- com -dot- au>]

My sister and I, and our spouses, helped our recently-widowed 79-year-old 
mother buy her first computer at the after-Thanksgiving sales. We "kids" 
had no trouble setting up the computer and all its peripherals without 
reading any of the setup manuals (despite little hiccups like the printer 
box stating clearly that it needed a parallel cable when, in fact, it was 
USB). I tidied up the desktop, getting rid of shortcuts to things she 
wouldn't be using, and signed her up for an e-mail account.

My mother kept asking, "Where's the instruction book?" Of course there 
wasn't any, beyond the Getting Started booklets which mainly covered how to 
set everything up and how to find the online help and the online (PDF) 
manuals. (The Windows ME Getting Started booklet, I was dismayed to see, 
had even less information than had been in the Windows 98 booklet.)

The next day I managed to find a commercially-published book on WinME that 
had lots of pictures and started with "this is a mouse... this is what the 
left mouse button does... this is what single-click means" and so on -- 
just the right level for her needs. She will no doubt work through this 
book cover-to-cover, one page at a time, until she has it memorized, and 
eventually she'll learn how to use online help and read the online manuals. 
(She'll also be going to classes at the Computer Learning Center at her 
retirement community, and calling on her friends for help, but she really 
likes to figure it all out for herself when she can.)  So there's one 
person who will read, and appreciate, what we do.

I also sat down on the spot and wrote a 6-page Getting Started cheat-sheet 
that began with how to turn the computer on and off (including shutdown), 
and which icon to click on to get to the 2 or 3 things she'd want to use at 
first (cross-referenced to the book I bought her). I included lots of 
screen shots.

I'm still waiting for my first e-mail from her, but I've learned to be patient.

Cheers, Jean
Jean Hollis Weber
mailto:jean -at- wrevenge -dot- com -dot- au
The Technical Editors' Eyrie  http://www.wrevenge.com.au/


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