Re: TW as Entertainment

Subject: Re: TW as Entertainment
From: Tracy Boyington <trlyboyi -at- GENESIS -dot- ODVTE -dot- STATE -dot- OK -dot- US>
Date: Mon, 1 Jul 1996 09:25:42 +0000

Sorry to bring this back up, but I was gone Friday and didn't get to
put in my .02

> On the other hand, what about those people whose VCR still blinks 12:00a.m. and
> who need their kids to help tape a show?
> Don't y'all think that these people would like entertaining documentation that
> is not dry and boring, so that maybe they will actually RTFM!!!

I know two kinds of people whose VCRs blink 12:00.

1. Those who don't do "time-shift" recording and aren't bothered by
the blinking, and therefore have no reason to RTFM.

2. Those who want to set their VCR but the "FM" is so badly written
that they can't understand it.

I don't know anybody who wants to program their VCR but refuses to
read the manual simply because it's not entertaining. "Gee, I'd love
to record Frasier while we're on vacation, but the VCR instructions
are just so dry and boring... I can't cope (sigh)."

I *do* know
extremely intelligent people who are the proud owners of some of the
worst instructions ever written. And no amount of cutesy humor or
silly clip art can make these understandable. I wish people could
concentrate on what's supposed to be important (clear, concise, all that stuff) instead of putting all of the blame on the
users.


==========================================================
Tracy Boyington trlyboyi -at- genesis -dot- odvte -dot- state -dot- ok -dot- us
Oklahoma Department of Vocational & Technical Education
Stillwater, Oklahoma

My opinions belong to me and not ODVTE.

"I think I did pretty well, considering I started out
with nothing but a bunch of blank paper."
-- Steve Martin
==========================================================

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