Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm List-Subscribe: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: , Sender: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com Mail-Followup-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT cygwin DOT com X-Authentication-Warning: localhost.localdomain: ronald owned process doing -bs Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2003 18:14:15 +0200 (CEST) From: Ronald Landheer-Cieslak X-X-Sender: ronald AT localhost DOT localdomain To: "Hannu E K Nevalainen (garbage mail)" cc: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com Subject: RE: Request for list links in left side navbar (Attn: CGF) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 4 Jul 2003, Hannu E K Nevalainen (garbage mail) wrote: > > From: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com [mailto:cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com]On Behalf > > Of Ronald Landheer-Cieslak > > > > On Thu, 3 Jul 2003, Christopher Faylor wrote: > > > 2) You may notice that I point to the mailing list page rather > > > than specifically to the cygwin mailing list in other cases also. > > > This is for the same vain mean hope that someone will read some > > ^^^^^^ > > > of the info there before posting. > > > I see nothing mean in hoping - infact, it's kinda opposite to "mean" to > > hope people will read and learn something. The fact that that hope is > > largely in vain makes it more "cute" than "mean".. > > > > It would have been mean if you removed the text and, later, said "you > > should have read what was on the site a year ago!" > > > > Sorry, but I don't thing the WJM approach works in this case.. > > WJR(*), perhaps? > > > > rlc > > > > WJR: We're Just Right[eous] > > My (Humble?) Opinion, $0.02 or whatever: > > Sigh ;-) it *is* mean to *not* take the user to exactly the point > he/she is expecting when following a link. i.e. WJM applies ;-) > > In other words: This might be slightly "counter productive"; causing > _confusion_ where there really shouldn't be any of it. > - Confusion causes questions > -> questions causes (unnecessary?) traffic on the list. > - Confusion at one occasion > -> Less probable that same user tries to look/search at the same place > again So in fact, this is some kind of subtle meanness, which actually is counter-productive for the meanny (as confusion causes extra traffic on the list) and for the user (as it takes him longer to find the answer he's looking for because he didn't go where he wanted to in the first place). Interesting.. but not quite convincing: the user will actually get the information he's looking for more easily, and because of cgf's message will be able to bookmark the page he's going to as well, decreasing mail traffic and speeding up future queries on the part of the user. Unless, of course, the mere fact that the user is confused during the process of his education is a sign of meanness on the part of his educators (in this case, cgf), I can't see the meanness here... > MODE=Argument for an "ease of use" attitude > I think there is similarities between web-pages and user interfaces (UI's). > If a UI would do the 'same' as is indicated above, the software in question > would be > at least 'less popular' amongst its users. > /MODE Hmm.. once learned, the way to find information becomes easier because you're confronted with the way to find information immediatly - and flamed ruthlessly if you make the slightest mistake.. The flaming might be mean, though.. > Good(?) rules for creating documentation: > - Be as direct as possible. Currently, the user is being helped with asking the right questions in the right place - seems OK. > - 'Hide' details until they are needed. No problem here.. > - Avoid confusion. If the user gets to the right list by following the indications, this is OK - if he doesn't read, it's his own fault.. > - Make it _easy_ to find the right information. .. by telling the user where to look - OK. Nope - I still don't see this as mean.. ;) rlc -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/