RE: HUMOR: I Need Help

[KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

Yeah. When I started paying attention to this 
thread, I was torn. Was it a case of what Andrew 
was decrying -- laziness by somebody who's been 
in the trade for a while? Or was it a case of a 
newbie looking for a good example to follow?

I've been new at many things. If I figure I'm only 
going to do the thing once or twice, then I guess 
I'd shamelessly troll for instant gratification.
If, on the other hand, it's going to be part of 
my job (or of my recreation), then while I might 
ask a similar question, what I'm really hoping for 
is a good example... preferrably one that's not 
a black-box, so that I can pick it apart and figure 
out how to do my own.

Sometimes examples/samples are like hen's teeth... 
kinda thin on the ground.  Sometimes examples 
are so thick and plentiful that you have to watch 
your footing... but then the trick is to find 
the *good* examples among the abundant dreck.
The output might look just fine from two "templates",
but behind the scenes, one is a compact marvel of 
good technique, labor-saving devices, and structure-
enforcing methods, while the other is a cobbled-
together bale of chicken-wire and chewing gum that 
gave a good result through sheer force-of-will on 
the part of the writer... and won't if somebody 
else tries to update it. 

If you're a newbie, you can benefit from a good 
template, not because it does your work for you, 
but because it shows you how that work can be 
WELL done. For example, I picked up FrameMaker, 
on-the-fly (and not without much frustration). 
I'm still doing so, having never taken any organized 
instruction.  My docs are loosely based on one or 
more of the templates that came with the software 
three years ago, and the good, well-thought-out 
aspects of my docs (apart from content... ahem!) 
are merely the traces of somebody else's good work, 
after I've butchered them for a few years.  Frame 
gurus would be aghast at things I've done... and 

failed to do. My readers don't know. My customer 
docs look fine. But anybody taking over from me, 
or joining me... has my condolences.

So, if somebody's request *gets* a "template" from me, 
it's probably because I suspected the request was 
laziness.  If I think it's a legitimate newbie cry 
for help in the wilderness, then the *last* thing 
I'll inflict on the poor dear is one of my own works!  

:-)

I suspect I'm not alone in that I grab what's handy 
in order to do my work, and only gradually trim off 
the wrong-headed and inefficient aspects (most of 
which I introduce by myself). So while I do OK with 
FrameMaker (for example), I'm still looking UP at many 
of the things that are explained in the FM user docs. 
I haven't got there yet, cuz either a section or function 
doesn't apply to what I'm doing day-to-day (or I just 
haven't recognized how it does/should), or I've 
kludged something that seems to get me by.
Meanwhile certain other people have not only mastered 
the tool, but have gone beyond to develop techniques 
and capabilities not dreamed of by the original developers.

An excellent example is Donald Pratt, who devised an 
arcane but effective way to automate thumbtabs/edgetabs 
and who generously gives away, not just the method, but 
the homemade font and the structure to make it happen... 
and then he holds your hand while you make it work 
for yourself.  Whew! (Had to insert that plug. He 
deserves it.)

Likely, not even Andrew sprang fully-formed from the 
brow of Zeus. He probably had to put in time as a 
junior writer, learning not just how his tools basically 
worked, but seeing how others had set up... templates 
that saved time, made neat things happen routinely and 
reliably (still a bit of a trick with Word, I hear...) 
and avoided -- or extricated from -- the pitfalls inherent 
in any complex tool.

A final thought:  in my years in the biz, I've never once 
taken a timely instructional course for any tool that 
I've used. Several times, the course has come long before 
the tool was available to use, and I forgot all the content
before I got a chance to use it. 
Far more often, I've had to muddle along for weeks or months, 
kicking work out the door by hook or by crook, before I 
could get the course... meanwhile learning all kinds of bad 
habits and embedding all sorts of inadvertent nasties into 
my work.  Sometimes, the muddling was aided by manuals. Other 
times it was online help or nuthin'.  Occasionally, I've had 
the luxury of being able to re-do earlier work to reflect 
the "Master" techniques or "best practices" learned from a course. 
In the middle of the muddle, I've always appreciated a 
ready-made example of how a real-world output was *supposed* 
to be constructed.  Sometimes, people have been kind enough 
to point me at such examples.

/kevin (still firmly straddling the fence on this issue)


Melanie Shook [mailto:mshook -at- com2001 -dot- com] sez:
> 
> Jane Carnall wrote:
> <<I wonder if anyone *does* send templates/samples in response to the
> requests.>> 
> 
> Actually, when I first began doing training documentation, I 
> was having a
> discussion (offline) with someone about training, who did 
> send me a pdf of a
> document as a sample. It wasn't a template that I could 
> actually use, but it
> did provide an example of one way I could structure such a 
> document. I then
> evaluated the structure and design based on my users' needs, 
> compared it to
> other samples I located on the web, and came up with a 
> suitable design for
> my purposes.
> 
> I think newbies who are asking for "templates" are most 
> likely looking for a
> place to start, or get a general idea of what others have 
> done, not someone
> else to do their work. (Some may be lazy, but most probably 
> just need a
> nudge in the right direction.) 

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