Well said! Ken Ray Sons of Thunder Software Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/
> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Richard Gaskin > Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 5:00 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: Menu manager/switch problem > > > Ken Norris wrote: > > >> You are thinking too Mac-centric. No other platform moves > its About > >> menu around like the Mac. Everywhere else, the About is under the > >> Help menu. It is a convenience that Revolution > transparently handles > >> the various positions of the Macintosh About menu for you, > since the > >> position is different even between OS 9 and OS X. By placing the > >> About item under the Help menu, your stack will display > properly on > >> any OS and you won't ever have to think about it. > > ---------- > > It's just that there is nothing in the docs to tell us this is what > > happens, so I wasn't expecting it. There's probably other > stuff like > > that, too. I'm looking for that list. > > I remember how hard it was for me to learn SuperCard when I > came from a background in HyperCard, and years later how hard > Ken, Christopher Watson, and myself worked to deliver one of > the most comprehensive sets of docs for an authoring tool > ever at the time, only to find how hard it was even after we > delivered them for folks to readily find everything they > needed. With complex systems like authoring tools, > experience is the best teacher. > > Since I came into Rev from MetaCard years before, I'm less > familiar with Rev's docs, but generally find them far better > than MC's, and roughly on par with SuperCard's (there's a > great many more tokens to document in Rev, so the Rev docs > have generally more stuff overall). > > Knowing Jeanne's thoroughness (it was, after all, her > HyperCard book that we used as the inspiration for form and > breadth when we rewote SuperCard's docs), I took a look in > the docs to see what I could find on this subject. > > Here's what I did: > > 1. In Rev's menu bar, I chose Help->Revolution Documentation > > 2. In the list on the front card of that stack, I chose > "Menus", which brings up a list of topics on the right. In > that list, assuming I had no experience with Rev, I simply > chose the first item, "About...menus and the menu bar", > thinking it might provide a good overview from which I could > explore other details as needed. > > 3. In that section is a subsection titled "Menu Bars on Mac > OS and OS X Systems", which describes the behavior in > question, with more detail and more concisely than even the > discussion here on this list. > > > Ken and I once had the pleasure of working under the same > manager, a man of impecible character and unusual insight. I > found myself frustrated with learning Gain Momentum, since it > was not only a larger and more complex xTalk than I'd known > before (20 volumes of manuals stacked three feet high), but > it also required me to learn Unix at the same time. It was a > lot to bite off at once, and after coming from years of solid > SuperCard mastery I was frustrated with finding myself nearly > completely ignorant, starting at the very bottom of the > learning curve all over again. I took my concerns to my > manager, and here's what he told me: > > If you plant a seed today and pour ten thousand gallons of water > on it, you still won't have a tree tommorrow. > > Some things simply take time and patience, and learning is > definitely more of a process than an event. This is > especially difficult when coming from another tool, and > compounded when that tool rests in the relative comfort of a > single operating system: For years you've grown into a > comfortable mastery of the tool, and over time the "learning > muscle" in some respects atrophies. > > Observing myself with both learning new tools and with > physical therapy after a hiking accident last year, I know > how hard it is to reverse atrophy. But as my physical > therapist reminded me, "movement begets movement": every > small effort made in a direction of growth has a compounded > effect over time. Initially there are few measurable > results, and such work begins as an act of faith and will. > But over time, with the encouragement of others who've > crossed that mountain before you, you have to trust that it's > achievable. And after a while your results will provide all > the encouragement you'll need, and may even serve to inspire > others as they begin the same path. > > So please be patient with yourself, and try to be patient > with the docs. They're not perfect, but frankly they are > among the most comprehensive you'll find, even when compared > to the big publishers like Adobe and Macromedia. > > In nearly evry case, I'll stake my reputation on the > assertion that the topic is covered in Jeanne's docs. And > for those few cases where a topic is not in a clear place or > even more rare, not covered at all, a brief note to her will > see it corrected as soon as possible, and a note to this list > will put you on the right track immediately. > > -- > Richard Gaskin > Fourth World Media Corporation > Developer of WebMerge 2.2: Publish any database on any site > ___________________________________________________________ > [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.FourthWorld.com > Tel: 323-225-3717 AIM: FourthWorldInc > > _______________________________________________ > use-revolution mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-> revolution > _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
