Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] How non-programmers use documentation.
From: Kevin Conder (kconder_AT_interaccess.com)
Date: Mon Aug 27 2001 - 18:22:29 EEST
On Mon, 27 Aug 2001, Juhana Sadeharju wrote:
> >From: Kevin Conder <kconder_AT_interaccess.com>
> >
> >12. Non-programmers don't want to see information about how a feature was
> >implemented.
>
> In audio processing they will want if they are professionals.
> So many things can go wrong if DSP algorithms are incorrectly
> implemented.
Perhaps the real issue is that potential users of an application
aren't a homogeneous group with the same needs. The people that I talked to
seemed frustrated with the amount of detail in on-line documentation.
Other users may want a large amount of detail.
I think the answer is to break documentation into parts (Getting
Started, Users Guide, Programmers Guide, etc.). Then we could let the user
select which parts they want. Just an idea.
> One needs to look at manuals of good commercial
> products to see that the algorithms are very carefully explaned.
The people I talked to don't look at these manuals... But that
doesn't mean another group of potential users wouldn't.
Do you have any concrete examples? Please be specific about the
manual and the passage. It'd be great if you could use examples that
could be freely viewed/downloaded from the Internet.
=== Kevin Conder, kevin_AT_kevindumpscore.com
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