On Tue, May 09, 2000 at 06:14:27PM -0500, John Hasler wrote:
> Randolph Fritz writes:
> > I think it's important to remember that many people do not like to study
> > software manuals or accounting books, and a program which continuously
> > reminds people to do so may be abandonded by these people.
>
> No one I know likes to study software manuals or accounting books, but
> perhaps it might be better to encourage those who refuse to do so to hire
> someone to do their accounting for them.
>
Well, now you know someone, or at least 1/2 of someone; I like studying
new software, if it's interesting and the manuals are reasonably accessible.
:)
I'll go along with encouragement, however I believe the typical Quicken
user is just someone keeping their home accounts, and I doubt they will
study accounting to use gnucash; I will not. That said, I will admit
that I do not know the intended user group, or how they will respond.
For best acceptance, I think some simple user testing is in order.
Also, most people prefer to learn a tool by working with it, and if those
people are to feel supported, the basic household functions of the tool
had probably best be usable without study. This doesn't apply to business
users, I would think.
--
Randolph Fritz
Eugene, Oregon, USA
