[Hitch]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Hitch - a recurrent problem I've struck with screenshot based instructions is that users are often unfamiliar with the target application/system. And your clients, being of a writerly bent rather than being painterly types, could be more comfortable with a bunch of words rather than a bunch of pictures.

With all due respect, Red--and I mean this, from the bottom of my heart--this kind of makes me want to kill you, or myself. Y'know WHY I have these? Because my clients do not and will not read written instructions. For YEARS I have battled with this irony; that authors, apparently, won't read. I have tons of written instructions. TONS. None of which they'll read. They won't read emails; they won't read instructions IN emails; given the choice, they will neither download nor read instructions.

When I had my forms and instructions in Hightail, I found out, factually, that for every 100 forms downloaded, only 1-3 of the instruction sheets that goes with the form would be downloaded. Yes, that's right--one to three, total, for every 100 downloads of the forms. And then I'd be besieged with email..."Hitch, what do I put in this field?" "Hitch, what's this for?" "Hitch, why do I need to complete this?"

IME, authors and publishers want everything to "just work" like most Mac users. They want it to intuitive, and when it's not, it's a nightmare.

I tend to use screenshots to illustrate/reinforce written instructions rather than the medium to convey the instructions. Maybe a web page with clickable thumbnails, a'la this would be a better approach. Or something like this from Dropbox.

Yup...feeling suicidal right now.

I find the vast majority instruction videos useless, notable exceptions are those Kovid has done for calibre - where the visuals are used to reinforce his narrative.

They don't watch them anyway. You want to take a wild guess how many times a week I say "and did you download/do X, like we discuss in the "Watch me first" video?????"

Can I suggest you post one of the PDF's here.

I'll send you one.

Added : another idea I've often used is to suggest the instructions be viewed on a phone/tablet, and executed on a computer, or vice versa. That's what I did with Kovid's videos when I first installed calibre - watched a segment on a tablet, then put it into practice on my desktop, if I didn't 'get it' rewind and repeat, else watch next segment.

Uh....one of us is deranged. Put the instructions on their phones or tablets? Dude...these guys literally don't know what "download from a browser" MEANS. Sideload to a phone or tablet? OMG...


Hitch