test please delete

[NickFitz]

Ribs and chips for tea

And mundane laundry done and draped

[ladymuck]

Finished work late, around 7.45pm due to practically rewriting a user guide that a so-called expert had knocked up. I guess, despite claiming to have the experience, they were not well versed in writing training materials and user guides.

My gripes were:

1. Fundamental steps missing, half described or inaccurately described
2. Descriptive text not co-located with its illustrative screen shot
3. Fonts of different types and sizes at random points
4. Inconsistent margins and indents
5. Inconsistent highlights to draw attention to things the user has to click on (mix of shading, bold, capitals)
6. Describing the service in a manner that hasn't been communicated to the user base
7. Pressing enter 20 times to push content to a new page instead of inserting a page break (a special place in hell reserved for that one)
8. Being the owner of the document but refusing to properly incorporate other people's content so it really looks like it was written by 5 people
9. Telling the user to 'hit the [name] button'
10. Claiming that architectural documentation is required so cannot reorder the topics to something that more sensibly aligns with typical usage/user journey
11. Putting terms in the glossary that were never used nor referred to
12. Use of obscure, over complicated language instead of simple sentences

What is this complicated system? SharePoint Online as a document store for regulatory electronic document management. Yep. It's rocket science.

[NickFitz]

Pressing enter 20 times to push content to a new page instead of inserting a page break (a special place in hell reserved for that one)

Bring back flogging for that!

[ladymuck]

I should also add that the client, in a recent rebranding exercise, now uses some god-awful shade of purple (sorry, ultra violet) and the house font is Times New Roman.

[vetran]

I should also add that the client, in a recent rebranding exercise, now uses some god-awful shade of purple (sorry, ultra violet) and the house font is Times New Roman.

Stone them!!!!!

[NickFitz]

I should also add that the client, in a recent rebranding exercise, now uses some god-awful shade of purple (sorry, ultra violet) and the house font is Times New Roman.

I can't remember where I first heard this, but the reason Times New Roman doesn't work well as a digital font is that it was designed for letterpress printing on newsprint, and because newsprint is quite coarse and fibrous, the ink spreads out a little bit. But digital versions just copy the precise letterforms as they were on the type itself, so in that form it's a little too thin and too sharply defined to be as pleasing to the eye as it is in print.

I've still got small fonts of, IIRC, 10pt and 18pt TNR, waiting for the day that I get my Adana 8-5 hand press set up again. It definitely looked better when I printed with it back in the day than it does on a computer

[NickFitz]

On the box tonight, the usual mix of Traffic Cops followed by The Repair Shop

Goodnight all

[eek]

Finished work late, around 7.45pm due to practically rewriting a user guide that a so-called expert had knocked up. I guess, despite claiming to have the experience, they were not well versed in writing training materials and user guides.

My gripes were:

1. Fundamental steps missing, half described or inaccurately described
2. Descriptive text not co-located with its illustrative screen shot
3. Fonts of different types and sizes at random points
4. Inconsistent margins and indents
5. Inconsistent highlights to draw attention to things the user has to click on (mix of shading, bold, capitals)
6. Describing the service in a manner that hasn't been communicated to the user base
7. Pressing enter 20 times to push content to a new page instead of inserting a page break (a special place in hell reserved for that one)
8. Being the owner of the document but refusing to properly incorporate other people's content so it really looks like it was written by 5 people
9. Telling the user to 'hit the [name] button'
10. Claiming that architectural documentation is required so cannot reorder the topics to something that more sensibly aligns with typical usage/user journey
11. Putting terms in the glossary that were never used nor referred to
12. Use of obscure, over complicated language instead of simple sentences

What is this complicated system? SharePoint Online as a document store for regulatory electronic document management. Yep. It's rocket science.

Nope,

They are just a lazy git who got 5 people to do the work and missed the fundamental fact that you then need to make it consistent and whole.

Heck documentation writing isn't difficult - test the steps taking screen shots as you go and describe the bits that are not obvious.

If the text is more than 2 sentences - work out why you need so much explanation and go back, find the appropriate screenshot and add it...

Can you tell my documentation is rather long and very screenshot heavy but rarely requires any further explanation or help.

[eek]

Separately - finally worked out how to get something working correctly 100% of the time.

Glad I'm only using Clarity as a guinea pig and we aren't live yet because this is going to be a big change... Hopefully do it all today though.

[DoctorStrangelove]

^^^ Had to change all my handouts from TNR to Arial due to rebranding back in the takeover.

Even with all the screenshots in the world the Esteemed Customers regularly found novel & exciting ways to screw stuff up: "no, you can't call that file "fred.asm.asm" it won't fecking work".

Etc.

Morning.

Dry.

Sunny.

Cold in here at 15.2 deg.

1003 mBar, 29.62 in Hg, 752.3 Torr, 69% RH.

Wednesday.

Half a pint of condensation on the inside of the bedroom window.

Spider crawled up my leg in the bathroom, couldn't figure out what the tickling was.

Walk (slightly abbreviated for comfort reasons) walked in the pleasant sunshine.

It's gone grey now.

Freecell score: not good.

Lunch: scrambled egg and poached tomato on Morrisons wholemeal sunflower and spelt toast, bramble jelly sandwich on same, red corner yog, 0.91 pints of good Glengettie tea.

Entertainment: Oz Customs thing, NZ Border Patrol: the usual inability of the Chinese to understand wtf "food" or "medicine" are.

Inneresting way of smuggling ephedrine inside security cameras.

Some minor potching undertaken in the garage to no great effect.

Tea: the last of the roast chicken and sausage (said sausage being a poor option on the previous sausages used in this way), some peach slices, a yog or two, 0.91 pints of good Glengettie tea.

Entertainment: Discovering Marlon Brando: I think I've seen 3 or 4 of his movies, The Horror, Oh The Horror.

Quantum Leap S1 E8, amusing enough if you like 1961.

Joy of Painting: a seascape: that wave looked weird to me, but was almost achieved.

Thing about Yellowstone super volcano whilst awaiting:

Dr Pimplepopper.

Dr Mercy.

For that pustulent goodness.