Hello

[Böðvar Björgvinsson]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for mentioning these points. I did not have the opportunity to
partake in the testing of FM11, but I am very happy to see that Hunspell is
now an option, something I requested several years back. I will use the
first opportunity I have to download FM11 and test the Hunspell dictionary
which is regularly available to so many languages, even mine!

I am also happy to see how active some of the developers' team are on this
list.

But I also agree that the Adobe software documentation is far from
adequate. In the past this has been something that many have requested to
be improved. The documentation is in fact so meager that it may be
misinterpreted as patronizing (i.e.: "If you need more documentation than
this, you are just a looser". Or something along that line.) It is IMHO
embarrassing for Adobe to see that some (a few) customers stumble upon
something that can be done, or that they find out after digging and
digging, and Adobe has no mention of these things. Do they really expect
the customer to have to spend their time almost reverse engineering their
software to find out what is installed?

I am also confident that improved documentation will increase the number of
Adobe customers. Why? Do I need to answer that?

Brgds,
Bodvar Bjorgvinsson
Iceland


2012/7/25 Mike Wickham <info at mikewickham.com>

> Hi, Gyanesh,
>
> We are glad to have you participating here! In fact, since FM development
> moved to India, it has been nice to see that several members of the team
> have become active in the community and responsive to it. Thanks!
>
> One shortcoming that I have always found in Adobe documentation (and not
> just FM documentation) is that it so often fails to document some things
> that should obviously, and by default, be covered. For example, EVERY menu
> command, EVERY preference setting, and EVERY dialog option should be well
> described. Yet, these are often completely omitted from the help files.
>
> For example, FM11's Reviewer's Guide says that FM11 now includes a
> Hunspell dictionary option in preferences, in addition to the Proximity
> dictionary. But looking at the new FM11 online help, I searched for
> "Hunspell" and nothing could be found on it. There appears to be no
> information to tell users why they would choose one dictionary over the
> other. This is a preference setting, so it should be described in help.
>
> The Reviewer's Guide also talks about "Improved handling of placed
> graphics," and mentions the new "**RemoveGeneratedFacetsForTypes=**"
> setting in maker.ini. But searching online help for that setting turns up
> nothing. (Perhaps it is documented in maker.ini itself, but I'm still on
> FM10 and don't currently have FM11 to look.)
>
> The Reviewer's Guide also mentions, under "New Equations and Anchored
> Frame behavior," that anchored frames are now saved as individual MIF
> files, but there is a setting to revert to previous behavior: "**
> DefaultvVectorFormatForXMLExpo**rt=CGM". Again, a help search for this
> setting turns up nothing.
>
> Which reminds me, one thing FM help has always lacked is full
> documentation of maker.ini settings. Every setting in maker.ini should be
> documented. Some are documented in help. Some are documented in maker.ini
> itself (though often poorly). Many settings are documented in the
> Customizing_Frame_Products.**pdf-- but, if I recall correctly, that file
> is no longer included on distribution disks, so many FM users don't even
> know that it exists! (And the downloadable version that exists is labeled
> as for FM7!) But many settings remain completely undocumented, including
> settings that, by default, are not included in maker.ini. So users don't
> know the settings are available.
>
> I would also add that, while I do see the advantages of online
> documentation being updatable and searchable, I miss printed documentation.
> The nice thing about a printed version is you can sit down with a manual
> and just read it to learn about things you wouldn't have thought to browse
> for in help. Adobe should consider creating print-on-demand (POD) versions
> of its documentation to satisfy that need. I think they may have done this
> previously with Creative Suite documentation. There was a time you could
> order printed copies of CS documentation in the Adobe Store-- though often
> a ridiculous six months or more after the product release! I used to order
> those when they were available.
>
> Mike Wickham
>
>
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