1. Revolution as currently constituted does not have a friendly out-of-the-box experience for the complete newbie. This is partly due to the organization of the docs (which appear to become progressively easier to use as you immerse yourself in the environment and its terminology) and partly because Revolution, unlike HyperCard, greets the newbie with a blank screen that basically dares him or her to figure out how to do something useful.
2. RunRev is a small company and perhaps shouldn't even *try* to be all things to all people. Focusing its attention, as it has to now, on people with either some programming background or at least a strong interest in/inclination toward programming as an art/skill has the unfortunate side effect of leaving newcomers feeling unwelcome but it may not be feasible to be both a powerful development tool for people who have the mindset or skill set or interest to be programmers *and* a tool for newbies who "just want to make something useful happen."
3. As Chipp Walters has said a couple of times, nobody said this would be easy. But there *is* a sort of implication that it at least won't be terribly hard. Rev does not deliver against that implied promise, as described in item #1, above. Still, there *is* a course of action, outlined by Chipp, that will lead at least many people to become productive in Rev.
4. RunRev is working hard on new docs and a new out-of-the-box experience for the next release of the product.
5. Meanwhile, there's a clear need for lots of step-by-step examples. The issue is what topics need this kind of coverage and are not yet covered in Rev docs. I'll start another thread to gather input on that topic as soon as I post this.
At the end of it all, one undeniable fact persists. Many hundreds of people, mostly probably from *some* programming or scripting background, *have* managed to find their way through the docs, this list, and the absolutely essential trial-and-error that is part of learning any practical skill and have become proficient enough to produce satisfying and satisfactory solutions. So while improvement is definitely called for, we are equally definitely starting from a very high plateau of a beginning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dan Shafer, Revolutionary Author of "Revolution: Software at the Speed of Thought" http://www.revolutionpros.com for more info Available at Runtime Revolution Store (http://www.runrev.com/RevPress)
_______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
