Codejock Developer Community : Suggestion: Hire someone to re-do the help file

Suggestion: Hire someone to re-do the help file : Oleg said in another post ... ...

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:20:41 +0000

Author: corpcon
Subject: 10159
Posted: 10 April 2008 at 9:20pm

Oleg said in another post ...

RTFM :) Seriously, too much complains about our Help, but nobody even read it.

The irony of this statement is ...

The reason no one reads it is because it often makes no sense to most people. That's why people complain about it.

Suggestion: Hire someone to re-do the help file : "User-friendly", the...

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:13:35 +0000

Author: corpcon
Subject: 10159
Posted: 10 April 2008 at 9:13pm

"User-friendly", the manual is not.

We've all seen what happens when a programmer designs a program from HIS perspective and not from the user's perspective. It results in a classic lack of usability.

Well, the Codejock manual was clearly designed by a programmer with absolutely no sense of usability, practicality or empathy. They need to hire a tech writer who has a really good sense of usability and how to demonstrate procedures in a practical and useful manner.

Suggestion: Hire someone to re-do the help file : If the help file gets reworked...

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:12:29 +0000

Author: ijwelch
Subject: 10159
Posted: 09 April 2008 at 8:12pm

If the help file gets reworked please can you also split so each product gets its' own help file.
The problem with the current help file is that search results are largely useless as all items location is 'Xtreme Suite ActiveX Controls', i.e. not different for each product.

Suggestion: Hire someone to re-do the help file : The help file appears to have...

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:44:54 +0000

Author: Zookeeper
Subject: 10159
Posted: 09 April 2008 at 9:44am

The help file appears to have been a minimal effort. Example: I wanted to know what types of picture files are valid for a Pushbutton's Picture property. Here's what the help file has to say about the Picture property:

Description
Gets or sets a graphic to be displayed in a push button.

Property type
Read-write property

Syntax (Visual Basic)
Public Property Picture() As Picture

OK, how useful is that? It merely states the obvious. It doesn't tell me which picture formats and resolutions are valid. The syntax example tells us nothing of use. It's as though someone stubbed the entry meaning to come back and give it some meat but never did. That's just one example. The above entry is typical of most of the property entries in the help file. Sorry to be a complainer but every entry on a control or its property should tell everything a developer might need to know about it. They should have remarks and give code examples. I know that documentation is the last thing we like to do as developers but for a professional product (especially a control library other developers will be using) it is a must and can't just be a half-effort.