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> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Harrison
> Hello Nancy
>
> Got to say you've touched a heartstring with a similarly techno-
> unchallenged lone writer - fully kitted out with MS Word and Adobe
> Acrobat (had to fight to get that) and Dreamweaver for simple online
> stuff (version 2 would do for what I need but had to fight to get it so
> then I accepted a new version rather than some older copy from Ebay)
>
> FURTHER QUESTION
> Is it worth considering more/better skills if you have no reason to use
> them and no use to practice them with - unused techniques and 30-day
> trials get forgotten pretty quickly.
>
> (oh and I have a mobile phone as well - it does phone calls - and
> texts-I think)
>
> Put me down for a 3 on Nancy's scale
Gee... I must be up to a 5!
I use MadCap Flare to make WebHelp... period...
So that means I write stuff and pull in the odd picture,
and then I press a button and out comes WebHelp. I don't
even use about 90-percent of the capability and features
of the software.
I just-this-week replaced my old flip cellphone. I know
it could text, because a sister-in-law used to send me
text messages until it became obvious how painfully,
painfully slow I was at responding on a numeric keypad.
I didn't have a data plan.
Now I have a 6Gb data plan and a Motorola XT860... which
is already outdated technology, but it has a physical
keyboard. So far, the most fun I've had with it was
while walking the dog last night. I'd downloaded the
Android app that does what that iPad night-sky app does:
I hold the phone up toward a twinkly object (not an
aircraft) and it shows me a picture of the celestial
object with its name and (when appropriate) with lines
to the rest of its constellation. Cool.
Yep, that bright one is still Jupiter.
On the slide-out keyboard (5 rows - which was the
deciding factor over the Samsung offering, which is
newer and has an [arguably] better screen, but has
only a 4-row keyboard with no separate number row),
I can thumb-type about 1/10 as fast as I can type
on my laptop, which will improve, and which is still
many times faster than I was doing on the old phone's
numeric keypad.
I guess I'll hafta get me one o' them-thar social-media
thingie accounts now, and move myself up to 6 on
the scale. Just as soon as I can decide which one
might do me the most good, and the least damage.
So far, it's lookin' like Linked-In. Maybe.
I agree about the general uselessness of "learning"
work-not-quite-related technology that I won't actually
use, and will therefore utterly forget within weeks.
I really envy those who can download a sample/trial
software and beat on it for a week, and then remember
how to use it two years later when an opportunity
comes up. I don't think it's my age... I'm pretty sure
I _never_ had that facility.
-kevin
PS: I'm guessing you are not the Dave Harrison who
lived in Barrhaven for several years and who used
to jump out of airplanes at Gananoque (among other
places)... ?
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