huh. interesting. But I think it's too bad that
users (non-technical and
otherwise) need so much hand-holding when it come to software.
With a DVD player (or a car or house), a user will press the button or flip
a switch to learn what a thing does. With software, and tools like
MediaWiki, there is this underlying fear of "breaking it", so a user won't
play in the sandbox. It's too bad.
Well, back in the days of VCRs under everyone's television, how many
people did you know that had one with the clock permanently flashing
12:00 because they couldn't figure out how to set it?
I try to take the approach of making as easy as possible for new users
to get over that fear and jump in. Some do, some don't. Some still
open bug reports (a complicated process) instead of simply editing the
Wiki text. Others wouldn't use the installed functionality on the
OOoWiki because they weren't aware of it, or were intimidated by the
Versions page. By putting the list into the Help: pages it's made them
more visible somehow... and I also have started announcing new
Extensions using MediaWiki:Sitenotice.
It all helps :-)
C.
--
Clayton Cornell ccornell(a)openoffice.org
OpenOffice.org Documentation Project co-lead
Sun Microsystems, Hamburg, Germany