I'm redesigning the Help system for a couple of the apps we develop, and I'm attracted to some of the ideas of AppleGuide, esp. having tutorial info directly within the software itself so users can more easily perform the steps without switching back and forth between applications.
But Apple dropped AppleGuide long ago, and usually when I to think Apple does something for arbitrary reasons I find out later there was a sound rationale behind the decision.
Of course many aspects of AppleGuide were flawed, most notable its poor performance (how hard would we need to work to make something that takes as long to load with Rev?), but also perhaps they went too far with integration, with AppleGuide's "do this for me" requiring way too much work for most developers to deal with.
I have no interest in attempting to emulate AppleGuide's "do it for me", but I am interested in simpler models for bringing tutorial info directly into the application experience.
But maybe there's a good reason Apple went the other direction, moving all Help materials completely outside the app into their separate Help system in OS X.
Are any of you familiar with any materials describing the rationale for Apple's decision to turn 180 degrees from AppleGuide in OS X?
Research papers would be most helpful, but even offhand comments from interviews with Apple staff or others in the know would be good.
TIA - -- Richard Gaskin Fourth World Media Corporation ___________________________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.FourthWorld.com _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
