XY -- The Unsorted Dictionary

[Cynthia Moore]

There is no question that XY is a powerful tool. But most of that power is hidden away in obscure and sometimes impenetrable documents and help files. I have been trying to get up to speed with it, but I keep running into questions that take me so long to research that I get frustrated and put it away. It's a little like trying to learn English with an unsorted dictionary. All of the information is there, but I dare you to find it.

Here's one example.

I was was given a link to a tutorial on The Catalog. (http://www.xyplorer.com/tour.php?page=catalog) When I clicked on it, I got a screen that looked like this:

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                                          The Catalog

The Catalog is a very powerful mouse-oriented interface.It is located right below (or optionally above) the Tree, and has a large context menu (right-click the Catalog) where it can be configured.

It then shows a screen shot with the Catalog clearly highlighted. But nowhere in the first several screen does it say how to invoke the Catalog. So I end up clicking on menu options until I locate it under the Window tab. It would be so much more user friendly, not to mention useful, to just tell how to invoke it. I'd modify the screen something like this:

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                                          The Catalog
                                 (Ctrl+F8 or Window | Show Catalog)

The Catalog is a very powerful mouse-oriented interface.It is located right below (or optionally above) the Tree, and has a large context menu (right-click the Catalog) where it can be configured.

Just this simple addition would make the tutorial so much easier to use and so much less frustrating.

ymmv

[highend]

Obscure help files?

F1 in XY. Index tab. Enter Catalog.

Showing/Hiding the Catalog

First Step: Turn it on! Right after a fresh install you won't see the Catalog. To show it, go to menu Window and select Show Catalog (or simply press Ctrl+F8). The (now still empty) Catalog will be show below the Tree. If you think there's not enough space for Tree and Catalog and Info Panel on top of each other then uncheck Wide Info Panel in menu Window: The Info Panel will move to the right to make space for Tree and Catalog.

[bdeshi]

Actually Moore's idea is not bad at all. +1

However, I must say, XYplorer's help is among the best structured --and actually helpful-- ones that I've found.
And another thing: whenever I get a new software/device etc, I browse all menus, options, settings etc, this gives me a general idea of where eveything is I might find something.

[Cynthia Moore]

F1 in XY. Index tab. Enter Catalog.

This completely misses the point, but then I think you knew that.

[Cynthia Moore]

However, I must say, XYplorer's help is among the best structured --and actually helpful-- ones that I've found.

The help is better than most shareware, but that's a low bar.

The problem is not that the help is incomplete. My guess is that most questions are answered somewhere in the mass of help files and tutorials. The problem is that 99% of it is organized as a reference, rather than a tutorial. Reference guides are about as useful to new users as dictionaries are to a child learning a language. If I don't know what to call something (like the breadcrumb bar), it is difficult to even look it up. And most questions are not simple definitions. They involve "how to" questions.

All software, like all languages, has a "style" or "personality". Experienced users, who are the people writing the help files, have difficulty remembering their initial bewilderment, so the help files make assumptions about a basic level of comprehension that is not true for new users.

The only solution is to provide a few very basic tutorials that demonstrate, preferably in a step-by-step manner how to do the most common tasks -- especially those that a new user might want to do. Otherwise, the new user to just has to grin and bear it, Many won't and you lose users. My guess is that the average XY user is far more experienced and technology-savvy than the average Word or browser user or even the average Excel user. But XY is supposed to be a replacement for file manager, a tool that every user uses. If XY were really that easy to use and if a new user could easily figure that out, far more people would become users.

And another thing: whenever I get a new software/device etc, I browse all menus, options, settings etc, this gives me a general idea of where eveything is I might find something.

See, this is my point exactly. The vast majority of "average" users do not do that. But the existing help files are written for people who do.