I agree.
I think part of this is UI design choices. It isn't that GnuCash made
wrong ones, but rather that folks might be more familiar with other
design patterns. These might also be the folks that don't like to read
manuals. They are never going away, though some may eventually relent
and crack the books, and there will always be a new crop of users in
this category.
It was these folks that I was alluding too with my comment about
re-working the website to more prominently highlight the various help &
documentation resources.
Also, we don't know or hear from new users who *do* bother to read first
and/or experiment and investigate on their own before asking questions.
They might far outnumber the first crowd.
Having first used computers in the very early 80s, by the time I found
GnuCash, I was already quite used to apps with extensive menus and lots
of functions and features. And I was already somewhat versed in
double-entry and basic accounting with no illusions that it should be
brain-dead easy, effortless, and simple. I also wasn't scared or timid
with computers so much that I was paralyzed mentally from trying or
testing anything with my financial data. I've crashed more apps and OSs
and even fried more electronics than I can possibly list. (Losing a term
paper you worked on for 12 hours straight because the system crashed
when you tried to print it will teach you resilience like few other
things can.) Thus, when I started using GnuCash, I had an entirely
different perspective, expectation, and sense of adventure than likely
anyone who is just now in 2023 wanting to 'get on a budget' and track
their finances.
I offer that little story as an illustration that we are all coming to
the use of GnuCash from vastly different places. That will never change.
What can change is how GnuCash and its resources appear to the various
perspectives of its users. But it doesn't have to change.
Regards,
Adrien
On 1/14/24 4:04 AM, David T. via gnucash-user wrote:
On a side rant, the fact that every year there is a spate of new users asking
the same set of questions that are covered extensively in some form of the
documentation underscores a disconnect that the community hasn't worked out.
For whatever reason, the disconnect between how Gnucash is viewed by the
outside world and how it actually works seems to cause a significant range of
new user difficulties.
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