Denise, Just a quick note to thank you for mentioning the Tutorial Lessons, which I had neglected to do. They are indeed a high point in Legacy documentation and I can heartily recommend them as they provide a concise, item-by-item description of most processes. They even include images of the icons to which they refer, as does the printed Legacy Family Tree manual.
It is a shame that the various sections within the Tutorials are not indexed by their titles within the Help System. For example, you cannot enter "How to Document Your Information" (one of the segment headings within the Tutorials) in the Keyword index field and go to that page within the Tutorials. I am in agreement with you concerning the apparent absence of an experienced technical writer on the Legacy Staff. Historically technical writers are often added to a staff last, and let go first. All the best, John Zimmerman Mesa, AZ On 9/1/2012 11:20 AM, Denise Moss-Fritch wrote: > > A few more thoughts if I may about ‘how-to’ information in > Legacy. > > First, how many are aware of the tutorial topics available > in Legacy’s help system? To find the list of tutorial > topics, do the following: > > 1.Click the Help icon in the toolbar. > > 2.From the Legacy Help Contents page, click Tutorial Lessons. > > 3.Select from the list on the Examples and Demos topic. > > One writer suggested multiple versions of the same help > file, for example, novice, intermediate, and advanced. > Please understand that a user is not all novice, or all > advanced in their use or understanding of legacy. You > might rarely use one feature of Legacy, being a novice > with that feature, while an expert with another feature > you constantly use. > > There are methods of writing multiple levels of > instruction into one help topic by “hiding” detailed > explanations within the procedure. Those ‘hidden’ sections > can be displayed to provide greater details. > > However, the structure of a typical Legacy help topic > suggests that the Legacy staff does not include an > experienced technical writer. Again, Legacy’s staff is > just too small. A check of the About information on the > help file shows the help authoring tool being used is > Microsoft’s HTML Control Version 6.1 (a basic help > authoring system) and (of course) the standard help > compiler from Microsoft. > > Please remember too that a help system is linked by topic > flow, not sequential information flow as with a book. > Creating a help system is far more complex than writing a > book, since with a help system you can link any topic > (page) to any other topic. That linkage is something that > cannot be duplicated with a book. > > Best, > > Denise L. Moss-Fritch > > > Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
