Dan, I couldn't have said it better myself. :-)
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 > Dan Shafer > Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 11:16 PM > To: How to use Revolution > Subject: Re: Documentation & Books & related > > > Wow. I have now read every single post in this thread and spent a lot > of time thinking about what is being said vs. what is being > left sort > of unstated or assumed. While I would never claim my summary/analysis > here to be authoritative, here's what one user/writer has > gleaned from > the conversation. > > 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 > _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
