Re: question about RMB

[Dan Mueth <d-mueth uchicago edu>]

On Mon, 16 Oct 2000, Malcolm Tredinnick wrote:

> I have to disagree with this. I have helped quite a few users with very
> little computer experience learn on both Windows and Linux and many of
> them have had to think carefully in the early phases about which mouse
> button to press.

As Malcolm points out, this comes down to the issue of audience.  For most
GNOME documents, we target the "average" user and try to do so in such a
way as to not alienate people who are somewhat above or below average.  
For the complete newbie, we need an introductory document which goes over
basic computer and GNOME concepts.  If we actually put this information in
each of our documents, they will become unreadable.  Even the newbie will
get sick of reading a paragraph about mouse buttons at the start of every
application manual.

I like to think of an average Windows user or Mac user as a reasonable
audience.  You don't have to tell them what a mouse, monitor,
wordprocessor, or the internet is.  They are reasonably intelligent and
will generally be insulted if you try to explain these concepts to them or
expect them to read a paragraph of information about using a mouse.

I think we really need two introductory documents.  One targetted at
Windows/Mac converts which points out differences with GNOME - perhaps
simply "Introduction to GNOME".  It would be nice if this would be
readable by the average Windows user (read "it can be read in an ammount
of time which a Windows user considers acceptable.  5 or 10 minutes?") 
We could use a seperate document targetted at the person who is completely
new to computers altogether, although I really don't know how many people
go from never using a computer directly to using GNOME.

I think Sasha has started working on the former document, although I'm not
sure how far he has gotten - I seem to recall he was looking for help with
it.

Dan