Zugg Software :: View topic

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:32 pm

A few days ago I was talking to a CMUD user on the MUD that I play. I was talking about the stuff in CMUD that I couldn't live without and mentioned using the <TAB> completion. For example, if the MUD displays:

There is a giant cockroach in the room

then I can just type:

k co<TAB>

where 'k' is an alias that does "kill %1;stun %1;kick %1". This expands to "k cockroach" because "cockroach" is the first word on the screen (reading from the bottom to the top) that starts with "co". I use this *all* the time, along with the "text"<up-arrow> completion to recall the last command that started with "text" (in this case it's usually "k"<up-arrow> to recall the last kill command).

Well, the person that I was talking to had never heard of using tab-completion like this. (This feature required Shift-Tab in zMUD, but was integrated with the normal tab completion in CMUD to complete any word currently displayed on the MUD screen).

Now, I'm pretty sure this is in the documentation somewhere. But the documentation is huge, so it's no surprise that a lot of people don't read it. Since many people don't bother reading the documentation, improving the documentation doesn't necessarily solve the problem.

So, how does everyone else learn about features in a program? Are you the type that reads a manual? Or do you just look through the menus and experiment (this is what I usually do)? Or what? How might this person I was talking to have learned about this tab-completion on their own? Or do we just naturally rely upon word-of-mouth from our friends to see what they are doing?

In my case, I learn from the menu items and from experimenting. But I'd probably never learn about the tab completion this way since it's not in the menus. So maybe I need some Flash Videos that show some sample MUD playing? But if someone isn't reading the help file, are they going to play a Flash video?

Maybe this is an unsolvable problem. But it's kind of frustrating for me to talk to people or read posts where someone asks for a feature that already exists, or gets upset because they think CMUD doesn't do something that it really already does. I'm interested in your suggestions and ideas.

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:44 pm

I think most people learn software the same way they learn just about anything else - have a go until you get to something you can't do, then read the manual or ask someone. Most of the stuff I know about zScript has been learnt by talking to other people about it and reading the manual to check up on how specific things work, or when I wonder if there's an easy way to solve a particular problem. You can really see the trend towards user-friendly interfaces (and the expectation for them) if you compare an old or old-alike game like Ascendancy or Uplink with something newer.

I reckon this isn't an unsolvable problem, but a self-solving one. Now that your CMUD user has spoken to you and heard about this feature, he's going to talk to all his other CMUD-using friends (and non-CMUD using ones ;) about how great a feature it is, and it'll spread that way. I definitely think you're right about people not using flash videos like that. The only way you're going to entice the kind of person who doesn't read the help file is with something that requires less watching and more doing.

As an example of something like that, a bloke named why the lucky stiff created an online tutorial for Ruby using something called CodePress that lets you use a programming language in your web browser. With some coding in the background and a bit of flash jiggery pokery, he had an interactive ruby tutorial that guides you through things at a surprisingly nippy pace. The concept's been used to teach Ruby to people as young as ten, so it definitely works for those with short attention spans :P

So, in summary: Interactivity, perhaps even giving the impression of being logged into a MUD server while you're going through the introduction. Brevity, because people get bored fast. Lack of text and what text you have should be simple and easy to understand. And never use the word "tutorial", because people tend to avoid them for some reason. I personally prefer the word "Guide" or even "Brief Guide", but there're plenty of other ways to get out of it.

Wizard Joined: 11 Jul 2002 Posts: 1265 Location: USA

Well, in the case of tab completion I never use it. Furthermore I don't know HOW to use it.

I read the manuals all the time for reference sake but, I tend to only look at the manual once I KNOW that something is possible and I was unable to discover from piddling in the menus how to do it.

If I purchase or even download a product for a specific feature then I will read the manual AFTER I have piddled in the menus. Other features may go completely unused and un-searched after.

A typical example is that I originally purchased Zmud for the Mapper. So I read everything I could find on how to use it, AFTER I had piddled. I later learned to script and so started using each feature as new problems came along. I did look briefly at the tab completion section of the manual before I learned how to use aliases. But because I had to do so many key strokes for the tab completion AND it was not prominently in the menus I put it out of my mind.

Beginner Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 24

1) Think of something I want to do. "Well I died there, it would be cool if next time I could..."

2) Check manual and ask people if it's possible.

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:19 pm

I had actually read that once in the documentation and then had forgotten about it. User interface features like that are tricky because they are nice short-cuts that don't stare you in the face like other things. Having said that I do actually read the documentation from time to time so I would have eventually run across it again.

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:26 pm

I do a mixture of three things. If there's something I /can't/ do but know others who know how to do it, I'll ask about it. I actually moved the entire zMUD manual to Word and printed it up (150+ pages) and read through the entire thing at one point when I had spare time. I've yet to do that with CMUD, but I'll probably wait until it's more feature complete. The third thing I do is just experiment. I managed to learn XML that way. :P

With the availability of so many client users out there, it's easier to ask someone how it's done rather than learn for yourself. But I don't believe there's any /real/ way to learn a software without reading the manuals for it. That's just my thought, though.

Charneus

Wizard Joined: 14 Oct 2000 Posts: 1368

Sorcerer Joined: 13 Jan 2006 Posts: 715

I myself just play, and if I decide I want to make zMUD or CMUD do something.. I just start writing it up. And if I run into snags, I look at help first, then I come here to forums and ask on the off chance I've not been able to get it on my own.

As for Rorso's suggestion on the tooltip, a better option would be inline autocompletion like happens in many software, where it has the suggestion highlighted past the cursor, which changes and adapts as you continue to type. Then you just tab complete if you want, or keep typing if you need something different.

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:35 am

Of course different people learn differently. I know a few folks who read the manual, I myself like to ready features overview. After that I'm an experimenter, often borrowing on my coding/techie background to make a best guess to what i can/should be able to do.

Lots of other folks stumble onto things or only look for new features when it fixes a problem. Like others I've remembered and forgotten tabl completion a few times. But as you mentioned it's not one you can stumble on to easily.

One thing I didn't see mentioned lots of folks go on features they've seen in other software. I know auto-completion from coding so whenever I think about it I used, often in the editor though. What might be useful is maybe be the pop-up tips that some programs have. I've picked a few cool tips this way. Another possibility is to feature a tip on the website, if you find it would be too intrusive in the program. They could even be mini-guides to a feature and few examples of how it would be useful and could ?easily? be built from the knowledge base.

Apprentice Joined: 29 Jun 2001 Posts: 198 Location: USA

I read through the manual (aka: help file) and if that doesn't help, I'll end up asking something on the forums. The most helpful thing in the manual are the reference sections that list all the commands, functions, built-in variables and the likes.

Personally, I find the "Tip of the day" windows a bit annoying and thankful that there's usually a checkbox labeled "Do not show again" at the bottom. However, it might be helpful for some users. They do, from time to time, show tips on features that I wouldn't have normally come across.

The best way for users to learn a program is to read and ask questions, but how many of them have time for that? Rolling Eyes

A "guide" would be good, avoiding the "tutorial" terminology.

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:39 am

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this yet, but most of the new software by small companies that I use have small flash videos of the different features. The microISV forum that I hang out at, agrees that this is the best format for the users, and that actually gets used the most. These are basically just screen casts of the specific feature. The two recommended movie makers are Wink and Camtasia.

One place that is very popular for Visual Studio users is http://www.learnvisualstudio.com

What would be really cool, would be a place for users to submit their own feature videos. The community here is very involved and I think it would be something that would be actually fun to make.

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:54 am

Actually, Zugg mentioned them in the first post, bortaS ;P

I actually reckon that flash videos are a very good method of conveying information as long as you do them properly. The problem with them, though, is really the same as with the help files - eventually, the volume of them gets too much and they end up being little more than flashy (haha) help files. Once there are too many, people will stop reading them, or at least stop reading all of them, and then features will slip through the cracks just like they did with the help files.

So, I say quality over quantity. Perhaps a short runthrough of things that're commonly used (or things that should be commonly used), but that'd be it.

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

I actually did NOT know tab completion would work like that. I think that is probably because the first time I tried doing anything with it in zMud it gave me the wrong word. Then because it didn't cycle, hit TAB again to get the next possibility, I gave up on it and put it from my mind.

The process of learning is actually an entire field of study. Generally it is broken down into 4 areas on which a person will focus. There are 2 different breakdowns that I recall seeing, but the one that stuck with me the most was based what, where, how, and why. The premise is that given something new to learn one of those 4 will be the first question a person asks. That is the primary focus of that person. Another of the the items in this breakdown was a study that statistically classed about 40% of people as 'what' focused, 30% as 'where' and 15% each for 'how' and 'why'. I tend to ask 'why' first, which makes me a good beta tester, but a horrible teacher.

Next is how a person prefers to absorb information. For this I generally consider Neural Linguistic Programming to be right. This time the breakdown is 3 ways, see, hear, and touch. The split is quite even acrossed the population. This basically tells you that unless you make an interractive AV help system you can not actually meet the preferred input method of some people. For example I am touch person, I will more readily learn a series of 50 clicks, scrolls, and mouse movements to get to a web page containing what I am looking for then the name of the site the page is on. I might have to look up that page 10 times before it would click in my head that it is worth remembering its site, but the series of clicks would have been remembered from the first time I thought the was something useful there.

The best actual answer I can come up with is add a menu item to the help menu. Features. This would be a page that lists different features with a very brief description of them, one line per item. Take the time to sort them into alphabetical order, do not break them into categories since the rest of the help already has such a breakdown; in other words this is a Feature List page that is very easy on the eyes. It should have links to the existing Feature Summary pages as well as each feature listed linking to something in the help. This single page largely covers those asking 'what can CMud do' and by linking it to other pages it also handles 'where do I find that'. That is 70% of people's first questions.

Enchanter Joined: 05 Mar 2003 Posts: 593 Location: Canada

I usually read a little of the docs, especially if there's an example or two;
Then I just dive in and try to do something complicated and beyond my competency;
By the time I'm finished that, I'm more than up to speed.

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:47 am

Magician Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 459 Location: USA

I learn by diving in and trying to do something. If I have trouble, I fall back on documentation and my programming knowledge for work-arounds.

If my search of the documentation fails and my programming knowledge leaves me, then I ask you poor people for help.

Beginner Joined: 06 Feb 2005 Posts: 26

I am one who reads plenty of help files. (When your character is regenerating what else ya got to do?) One thing I would like to see in the help files though is more examples. I look at plenty of functions and commands and still don't really see where I would use them. It's always nice to have an example that doesn't have to do with anything, such as:

Wizard Joined: 10 Oct 2000 Posts: 1551 Location: Australia

I never even knew tab completion existed. I did know about the "text"<uparrow> however (by coming accross it by accident through the course of play.

Like many others have stated, I just tinker and when I get stuck I consult the manual, forums, etc. so something like the tab completion I don't think I'd ever have found out in the course of my tinkering.

As for forced learning (such as tips of the day, office paperclip, etc) I turn them off - annoying condescending popups require DELETED-ing, Strongbad style.

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:27 am

Hah, I haven't watched that in so long, Rainchild. "There's two of them! ...and one of me..."

You're right that most people turn off assistant-things and tip-of-the-day things, but OpenOffice actually uses something similar to the assistant without the annoying animated thing in the corner. Basically, if you've changed a few slanty-quotes into straight quotes, it might pop up asking if you want to disable them, or if your page starts with an address, it might ask if you want to turn on its advanced letter-writing features and whatnot. It's only a small icon in the corner, so it's ignorable, and you can turn it off in the preferences.

Adept Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 246

I tend to read a manual cover to cover first, then I start to play around. And then, if I still like it, I read the manual again. I don't really feel like I know something until I understand not just how to use it, but why it works.

Beginner Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 14

I refer to the help documentation pretty often, and stuff in there is sometimes a bit hard to read (blame it on English not being my native language, if you must). I believe the problem might be related to the documentation often has been written for 'programmers' by 'programmers' ( a programmer here being someone who knows how to code some basic stuff in VB, Java, Delphi etc). So when a total 'newbie' reads the documentation he won't understand half of it.

I myself am a programmer and sometimes I get stumped by what I read. Luckily the forum helps me out then. :)
PS: Didn't know there was tab completion. Now I do, and I like it. :)