Discussion on improving documentation

[tfjern]

Lazlo24 wrote:

"So far, I have always found the documentation suitable for task. The biggest problem has been knowing what the program can do."

To beat this dead horse one more time: for several reasons I won't go into, programmers are characteristically hopeless when it comes to explaining -- IN SIMPLE, CLEAR ENGLISH -- how the programs they created actually work. That's why programmers are strongly discouraged from writing manuals for the general public unassisted. This is hardly a startling revelation.

Once again, and hopefully for the last time: the available resources -- a "suitable," well-organized, help file and several short online "videos" -- do not explain to average people -- the people we need to get UR to "go mainstream" -- what the program can actually do.

If Lazio24 is right: namely, the program itself is intrinsically too difficult for average users to understand, implying that no amount of simple explanations will be possible, then it is only a matter of time before our beloved UR dies on the vine, so to speak.

But then again, with more user-friendly resources, esp. easy-to-understand online explanations and videos, perhaps the program could go mainstream, provided the programmers, and the advice of certain condescending senior members ("Go Forth and Search the Forums, O Lazy Ones!"), keep their hands off them.