(snip) I did a search for "Tab Button" in the Document Search Engine, no such entry was found. This shows part of the basic problem. Why is a very common data selection method like this not even mentioned. A simple discussion about how to implement "Tab Buttons" should be addressed in the documents.
You should have searched for "tabbed button" (singular), this yields 18 topics containing the searchstring. Using my "topsearch" plugin (see User Contributions), I find 14 hits on 12 cards of the Transcript Dictionary, 6 hits on 3 cards of stack "How To.." (revDocsHow), 2 hits on one card of the Glossary, indeed nothing in the Tutorials, and one hit in the Menu Reference.
(snip) There are many broad topics that are common to most programs. How to implement them with RR should be something that is addressed in the documents. Using simple tutorials for the most common usages of program interfaces as well as for the most common types of programs RR is aimed at is a must. They should give step by step examples with screen shots, etc. for these most basic elements; elements RR can able to run circles around other programing tools. (snip)
The problem is - given the richness of the Metatalk/Transcript language - and the tremendous variety of applications you can create, that it is difficult to cover all "basic" problems in such "simple tutorials". They probably cannot even be treated exhaustively in publications like Dan Shafer�s book.
While only Metacard was around, I criticized its documentation on several occasions, because in quite a number of cases the entries served rather as "hints" or "reminders" instead of being very practical examples how to use language and syntax.
This changed with Revolution. I think the documentation is by far the best part of the new Revolution IDE, which I appreciate very much. You can see from my contributions to this and other lists that I criticize Revolution on a regular basis because the Rev IDE is in many cases not suited for the kind of stacks I happen to develop, because its speed problems and mutually interfering IDE elements.
I prefer to work with the Metacard IDE most of the time, but I very often use the Revolution documentation at the same time.
This does not mean that I would not agree with you on some of your proposals. The Revolution team have devoted a lot of effort to develop the documentation, add tutorials, make the docs searchable etc., and they are already heading in the direction of improvement you indicate, in so far they will most probably appreciate your critical recommendations, but this will take time. You have to take into account that Revolution is still in its early stages of development and has existed only for 10 months as an independent product since it acquired Metacard last year.
Maybe we will eventually see both printed and included (as part of the IDE) versions of the Revolution documentation that come up to your expectations and will come free with the purchase of Revolution.
The old Toolbook documentation, which was a free part of the product, comprised two very thick volumes, the "Open Script Reference" and the "User Manual" along with more printed parts of the documentation, which were rather comprehensive and self-explanatory. The best documentation I can remember was that of "HyperPad", the first Hypercard clone for the now extinct DOS-world from Brightbill&Roberts, that came also free with the program. In the three years in which I used HyperPad alongside with Hypercard I think I have only directed questions at Brightbill&Roberts two or three times - as their documentation indeed covered all necessary aspects and included step-by-step practical examples for all parts of the PadTalk language and the HyperPad environment (but in retrospection it could well be that I did not yet have too many essential questions to ask back in 1990).
Regards,
Wilhelm Sanke
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