Is an online help of AS useful?

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:38 pm

Maybe you don't know but a online version of the Moho help is still available here:

http://www.lostmarble.com/moho/manual/index.html

Would be it useful to have an update of the online help for Anime Studio for the current and future versions?
If so, we could request to e-frontier to include the online help on thier servers to make it available to current and future users.
In my opinion it is very useful to include a online reference of the built in help when someone responses a newbie question...
-G

funksmaname · Post by **funksmaname** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:00 pm

Not only to answer n00bie questions, but when i'm thinking of buying some software/hardware i like to be able to flick through its manual to check its what i need, and discover all the things possible that i didnt even think of...
Mainting this and linking to it from somewhere obvious could result in more interest in the program.

i voted yes.

cribble · Post by **cribble** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:36 pm

you would be insane, or just stupidly hardcore to vote no.

You reckon there's a way of taking the information from my resources thread and creating some kind of wiki for it?

JimmyC · Post by **JimmyC** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:26 pm

One thing I would like to see on both the web-based and the download version is a search box. Makes life a lot easier.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:02 pm

Dagnabbit!

I didn't even know about the online help. Now I know where you guys get your links for the tool icons.

Yes please.

-vern

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:29 am

cribble wrote:You reckon there's a way of taking the information from my resources thread and creating some kind of wiki for it?

Yes for sure!
The wiki is a little stopped lately. There is a seed here(thanks to dlangdev) but nothing written at all. I would like to start a good skeleton of the wiki and hope me and other could contribute to feed it up. It is very important that the main entries of the wiki were well thought if not finally it would be converted to a messed copy of the forum.
Maybe I'll start a thread to agree with the forum members the main structure of the wiki to set up the main pages and start to include all the sparse resources there are over there (included of course your ***Resources*** thread)
-G

mooncaine · Post by **mooncaine** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 4:45 am

The reason I voted "no" is because I think only a local copy of the help will do. Maybe that was wrong. Why did I vote that way?

1. Because animation is deadline-oriented work, and we can't always wait until the next time we have a working Internet connection to get help.

2. If the help changes, each registered user should be notified so the update can be downloaded. If this means downloading an installer, so be it. I think the help is too important to rely on only as an online resource.

3. If the program's updated, the help should be updated to reflect changes before the update is published.

4. If the only help resource is online, and it only reflects the current version offered, then it becomes useless, maybe even dangerous, for users of earlier versions who don't notice the version difference until it's too late and they've committed something to disk they can't undo.

Those are my thoughts; I could be wrong. It's been known to happen.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:13 am

It's pretty much a no brainer really.

Most applications have duplicate help files hosted online these days. It wouldn't make sense not to considering that THE FORMAT IS HTML! Web space is very cheap and the help files take up practically no space at all when you look at it. (The help files in the first version of Flash MX were so slow and klunky I used the online versions instead.

)

... and really truly... who has lost their internet connection for more than a few hours? If you lose your phone line for that long it's like a sign of the end times.

Local updates are simple, just download the pages!

A few times over the years my internet connection has gone out for extended periods due to storms or power outages...I usually just sit and stare at the blank browser window for awhile... then go to bed.

In reality I would actually be staring at the BLANK monitor under flickering candle light in the dark... then go to bed. I have two wind up flash lights now just for these situations. I really need a wind up internet connection. I bet people would be in better shape if they had to peddle faster to get a faster connection on the internet.

I still can't believe I didn't know about the online... online help. I have a few of those stupid tool icons hosted on my web site now but have no idea which topics I linked them to on the forum.

-vern

myles · Post by **myles** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:21 am

I think online documentation is definitely useful for discussion on the forum, but not as the only form of help.

Most of the time I'm not online when animating, and during that time I'm also usually restricted to dial-up, so offline local documentation is even more essential.

So, definitely useful but not as a replacement for offline help.
Does that make me a yes or a no?

Regards, Myles - voting a definite conditional equivocal.

mooncaine · Post by **mooncaine** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:48 am

heyvern wrote:It's pretty much a no brainer really.

... and really truly... who has lost their internet connection for more than a few hours? If you lose your phone line for that long it's like a sign of the end times. Local updates are simple, just download the pages!

-vern

Funny you should ask. I lost my connection for 4 days last month. It's the stormy season here now. During that time, I tried to get some things done, but found that several Apple apps I wanted to use had become useless because I couldn't consult help at all. All the help was only online. That was true for iMovie and a few others. I was cursing them to hell and back. All I needed were the stinking help files that should have been, IMO, on my computer. I hadn't thought much about the value of local help files till last month.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:30 am

I suggested that it could be cool if the built in help would be online AS AN ADDITION to the offline help files for each program copy. Not a replacement. That was my fault on the explanation of the first post.

It was done with Moho and was cool and definetively would be cool for the current AS help and future versions.
Don't you think that?

-G

heyvern wrote:Local updates are simple, just download the pages!

Not so simple. The html structure would eventually be slightly different and could not work. Probably would need a "whole web" downloader program.

mooncaine · Post by **mooncaine** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:59 pm

Since the discusssion about the missing update download came up, I realize another drawback of online help: I am not sure e-frontier can be trusted with that responsibility. It definitely can't be the only updated help. Help must be distributed with the software if the intent is actually to help users.

Mohlar · Post by **Mohlar** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:13 pm

Personally, and as a newbie, I'd rather have an updateable (and regularly updated) in-program Help file with a functional and comprehensive search facility. Which sort of echoes what JimmyC said ...

One thing I would like to see on both the web-based and the download version is a search box. Makes life a lot easier.

I've used online helps before and haven't always found them to be any more efficient than in-program helps. What happened in one instance was that the in-program help ended up being abandoned rather than being kept in step with the online help.

I fully agree with mooncaine ...

Help must be distributed with the software if the intent is actually to help users.

My ideal would be for an in-program Help file that was regularly updated with tips, hints, tutorials etc. based on the frequency or importance of queries being posted into the forum.

Also, whilst I'm on the subject, I feel that any and all help files should have an index or, at the very least, an ABCDEFG.... type system so that topics can be landed on as quickly as possible.
Here endeth the rant.

kevin · Post by **kevin** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:48 pm

I voted yes for all the obvious reasons. There should be a manual that comes with an application (paper and/or PDF) and then a link to online help. It should have a search box. That's SOP for just about any professional piece of software these days isn't it?

Mohlar · Post by **Mohlar** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:03 pm

kevin wrote:There should be a manual that comes with an application (paper and/or PDF)

I raised that point elsewhere and the reason why there can never be a pdf version of help is because embedded within it are animated examples. These could, I suppose, be represented as a sequential series of screenshots, but that wouldn't be as good.

But I definitely think there should be a printed/printable manual in some form - even if not an attempt to mimic the help file. This happened recently for the Gamemaker program when two dedicated books were publlished. There is, I know, a book dedicated to AS (Anime Studio: The Efrontier Official Guide by Kelly L. Murdock ISBN-10: 1598634321 and ISBN-13: 978-1598634327) but as far as I know, this isn't generally available in the UK, although it is listed on the American site, Amazon.com

Is an online help of AS useful?

Is a online help of AS useful?

Is an online help of AS useful?