New User's Reference Guide

[SkyFrontier]

Hope someone finds those useful.
Consider all of this a BETA, even for the lack of proper comments, etc.
BASICS: those are topics taken out of History and placed in order to filter/sort stuff out. These were done by hand, filtering words. So expect some bugs.
-Don, consider this a TRIBUTE and not a COPYRIGHT infringement, please!
Later may work hard on a better approach, such as Tip of the Day or something like that.
Have to go - sorry!

***NOTE***
See below for full comments on Tip of the Day - Quick Setup add on.

New User's Ref. Guide contents:

3D_Style.txt
CoolFeats_SeeAlsoHTMs.txt
EnvironmentVars.txt
GeneralChanges_Jokes_Other.txt
InstallPacks.txt
Lics.txt
MainFeatures.txt
ReversedChanges.txt
Scripting.txt
Tricks_Hidden_UndocFeats.txt
Tweaks.txt

[j_c_hallgren]

BUT - had a lot of work (one entire week, hours a day!) to get this stuff done.
BASICS: those are topics taken out of History and placed in order to filter/sort stuff out. These were done by hand, filtering words. So expect some bugs.

I looked to see what you'd done and while it was a lot of work, I'm wondering just a bit how Don may feel about it given that consolidated Change Logs are part of License Lounge (see http://www.xyplorer.com/support.htm)...

Ok, so the raw data is available via Beta Forum also but not in that format...and given the search feature, a fair amount of this can be found in my http://xyplorer.blogspot.com/ which I have Don's approval for...

Now, if you really wish & want to be helpful to new users, I'd suggest instead that you make some updates to the Wiki which you can see via http://88.191.26.34/XYwiki/index.php?ti ... ideminor=0 isn't likely keeping up with XY itself...jacky and others would appreciate any help and given that it's a wiki, we all can easily review any changes and tweak it as needed.

Besides, reading the wiki is a whole lot easier than reading change logs! I know...I 've been reading the logs for a few yrs now!

[admin]

Thanks for the tribute. I hope it's useful for someone.

[SkyFrontier]

***please note*** It's a part of a post made in another section, but it also does make sense here. Don't know about house's rules (on repeating a large section of a post), so leave that with Don...

Not that I am trying to master XY being just a newbie. I am in fact trying to translate those features into a user friendly language, so the average Joe can quickly see benefits out of the box.

My goal is to expand my so called New User's Reference Guide into a project which aims to develop a comprehensive documentation (ala XYplorer for Dummies), and I think this will give Don the paying audience he DESERVES for all his efforts, day after day as we can see out of History.txt. CoolFeats_SeeAlsoHTMs.txt is an uploaded file posted here that can give an idea on features to be highlighted, and real world situations can guide Scripters to actively elaborate and compile/comment tools so one could say: "Hey, I NEED THAT in my job!", instead of stating something similar to above mentioned "Portable Openwith Menu" - and that's NOT a script section! - which to me seems useful but currently (question of minutes, hours...?) unavailable. My fault, of course - but like me there are tons of other users out there who want something that "just do it". That's the principle on Windows and the reason why it surpassed IBM in its times.

The more I use the tool, the more I *love* it (despite being lost around a single tree, which seems to be a taboo topic in here - http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic. ... 50&start=0). Being not a programmer/coder, I was able to put fears aside and get pieces around to build some simple scripts which saved my skin lightining fast. A programmable file manager? Built-in programming language on top of a Windows Explorer replacement? WOW!!! How come...?

I'd really like to contribute the way you suggested, Hallgren, but being online has been hard for the last/next weeks. Will think about that. But please consider what I said in here and share your thoughts on that matter.

[admin]

I am in fact trying to translate those features into a user friendly language, so the average Joe can quickly see benefits out of the box.

This is a great plan and no doubt would be fantastic if you succeed, but it's a very tough job! I say MAY THE FORCE (and the inspiration) BE WITH YOU!

[j_c_hallgren]

I am in fact trying to translate those features into a user friendly language, so the average Joe can quickly see benefits out of the box.

And I would say that our goal since it was created was to have the wiki be the more "user friendly" source for documentation...not saying that Help isn't but in the wiki, we can give a lot more details and examples...and with some screenshots and such, it can be very newbie oriented....new users like pix and text doesn't give the same results...and the change logs are much more for the hard-core users as would be any extract thereof.

My blog, which is a mostly a reformat of the updates, was intended to provide a searchable set of those changes which the forum software wasn't always as good at...and it provides a method whereby users can subscribe and have the updates emailed to them, which phpBB doesn't provide....plus, it provides yet another site to publicize XY!

My goal is to expand my so called New User's Reference Guide into a project which aims to develop a comprehensive documentation (ala XYplorer for Dummies), and I think this will give Don the paying audience he DESERVES for all his efforts, day after day

I certainly don't disagree with you goal, and I hate to sound like a broken record, but I think the wiki has the best setup for this...maybe even a subset to wiki which is even more simplified?

The more I use the tool, the more I *love* it (despite being lost around a single tree, which seems to be a taboo topic in here

Glad to hear that XY is working for you! And I don't think single tree is taboo...just something that isn't high on the list

I'd really like to contribute the way you suggested, Hallgren, but being online has been hard for the last/next weeks. Will think about that. But please consider what I said in here and share your thoughts on that matter.

I understand about the online issue...not sure if there is some way to d/l a working copy of the wiki (or pages thereof) that would allow you to at least edit locally and then upload later (presuming no online chgs in meantime that would get lost).

Having spent likely hundreds of hours here in forums and on my blog, I just don't want anyone else to spend lots of time working on something that may not get the audience that makes it deserves, so that's why I keep pushing the wiki...it's presently the place we send ppl when answers aren't in forum.

[admin]

I agree with j_c_hallgren that efforts should go to the already incredibly great XYwiki!

[j_c_hallgren]

And since Don posted in http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic. ... 490#p42490 what might apply a bit more here, I'll post a copy:

@SkyFrontier:

The change log (History.txt) is not meant for normal users / newbies. I'm aware that it hardly makes a lot of sense to them. It's for insiders and regulars of the XYplorer Beta Club. And it's my own primary source from which I write the help file and the web site texts.

BTW, a manual for newbies should have LOTS of screenshots. Which is always a problem with XY because it develops so fast that updating screenshots gets a nuisance.

[little titty]

Think it was a nice idea. I would prefer though if all the info about betas was removed!(which seems to make up the bulk of it) and it just contained "how to " info and tips.

[SkyFrontier]

NewUsersRefGuide_QuickSetupForOffices.rar may also be read NewUsersRefGuide_QuickSetupForOfficePeople.rar.
It's a kind of an introductory guide that shows the basic set of features XY have, plus giving useful suggestions on how to increase productivity when dealing with files management.
Mental note: Must add a reference I saw somewhere on XY being able to completely hide extensions. INI tweak, I guess... What you think, admin? Is it a good idea introducing INI tweaks to the new users...? The more they know from a first contact, the more they may be interested in the tool, I presume.
little titty, can you please read it and share your thoughts from what you see? The main idea is that people like YOU has a way to quickly develop interest in XY by means of a daily usage of several tools beyond the basic file management XY provides.
Thank you for the support!

[little titty]

Hi Skyfrontier sorry for late reply haven't checked this section for a while.
I had a read and made some changes to the introduction to tidy it up a bit and make it easier to read. Overall it's a good start. It would be good to add some examples of searching, of using tags and the catalog feature which may be useful for people working in an office.

[SkyFrontier]

That's exactly the idea.
Within the next 2 or 3 days I will upload a final version of the Quick Setup - hope I can incorporate the suggestions you made, which I haven't time to read so far (will do in the next hours).
Thanks for the reply!

[tryforsure]

This type of information is very useful for beginners. and i would like to be able to point newbies at this information.
But I think reading a text file is, itself already, seen to be geeky.
I think it would be great if your talent and enthusiasm would be better put updating wiki mentioned above.
It would be lot easier to maintain, and others to can add and update when others are away.

The wiki would be a fantastic repositorie for all things XYplorer. which would benefit everyone.

keep up the good work btw.

[SkyFrontier]

admin said:
I assume that's what he wants, but he wants it without any need for scripting or reading the manual, which I can understand perfectly. I find it a good idea to offer a simple way to define an external viewer and an external editor app: It just takes two text boxes and a browse button for each, two menu commands, and done.

graham said:
A long time ago, prior to the realisation of scripting I thought there was a good case for an easy dialog type of approach to do common tasks and these 'wizard' type solutions are often very acceptable to those like me who struggle with scripts etc. but not liked by the clever people!

Ref:
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4351

History.txt said:
v6.30.0006 - 2007-09-09 11:00 +++ Menu Help: Added "Tip of the Day" functionality (Shift+F1).
...This, of course, means you can have the tips in your language!

(as usual, I'm writing from the average-Joe-point-of-view)
Well, well - finally I've found something NEW USER friendly. Although I had to SEARCH for that after thinking a bit on a "Tour Guide" format (HTML, flash/video), then realized that "Tip of the Day" could save the day.

So my only point here is: why it's not ENABLED by default, at least in the main public releases so the visitor/new user can get a simple overview on demand? (and KNOWING that the feature sits there waiting, if he wants to disable it any given time?).

Playing a bit with TipOfTheDay.htm I've found the section

Code: Select all

    (currently unused:)  <<<NOTICE THIS!
    -           End of Tip Text, Start of Tip Properties
    keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3 ...
    [0/1/2]     Level: 0 (All), 1 (Beginner), 2 (Advanced)

Can it be easily enabled, so we could have a

Code: Select all

3 (Quick Setup Guide)

section?

Having that on mind, I made a custom TipOfTheDay.htm and now it contains a Quick Setup Guide. Want to use it? Replace current TipOfTheDay.htm in XYplorer's main folder with the TipOfTheDay.htm contained within the attached .rar, bring XYplorer to front, press SHIFT+F1 and follow the next ">" buttons. If you can't see the Guide, press the "All" button and choose "What is XY?" topic, then follow the next 11 tips.

Optionally I made a TipOfTheDay_QuickSetupLAST.htm version so one can choose to have the setup guide at the end of the official list.

OF COURSE this is an open project made by a new user, so please share your comments and "misepplings"/grammar/info corrections.

Hope this REALLY helps.

Next step, SCRIPTING Guide - or a deeper look on XY main features? Leave a comment on that matter please.
-I am looking after the new users, so I think a more accurate presentation on XY features could be pritority. BUT we already have XYwiki...
...-then a little close in Scripting, focusing the XY insiders at the same time being presented in a non-obscure language (OMG!) should be considered. What you think?

-to get the file, scroll to the first post of this topic and download "TipOfTheDay_QuickSetupForNewUsers.rar".

[SkyFrontier]

Thank you, tryforsure.
My efforts are en route to translate XYplorer into a very user friendly language so every user could get more out of it with minimum effort.
I agree that XYwiki would be a decent place to post and contribute, but all I can do for now is compiling the info so anyone entitled to write there can do that - I am having problems to get a stable connection therefore I will not start something I cannot accomplish properly.
The geekish problem you refer I am planning to solve in another geek way: I am learning the basic HTML steps so the longer texts may turn easier to read right out of the box and adapt in XYwiki or other format you all consider as better. So keep an eye open!