poll: do you read the manual?

Official support for: xoxos

for new concept vst, do you:

try first, read manual later
52
68%
read manual first
17
22%
never read manual, gui should be self-explanatory
8
10%
 
Total votes: 77

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ughnonumus wrote:Who is this Manny guy...gee, you'd think he knew everything about every product! :shock:
Oh, manual. :dog: :oops:

You mean, there's instructions...for everything? :-o

OK, I guess I don't need you guys, anymore. :hihi:
I've got nothing to sell...am I on the right site?

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ughnonumus wrote:
ughnonumus wrote:Who is this Manny guy...gee, you'd think he knew everything about every product! :shock:
Oh, manual. :dog: :oops:

You mean, there's instructions...for everything? :-o

OK, I guess I don't need you guys, anymore. :hihi:
Also he knows your credit card number, and he's standing right there behind your door.
You can't always get what you waaaant...

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As Jazzyspoon mentioned, I read manuals religiously. I read manuals for gear I don't even own to see if I can achieve similar results from the features of stuff I do have.

I won't even turn a peice of gear on until I've read the manual, contents - appendices. I'm weird though... most people don't work with gear the way I do. I like to discover the workflow that was intended when a device/peice of software was concieved and addapt my work habits accordingly.

This can be a challenge because manuals aren't normally written by developers/engineers. In the case that a manual is written by the person that created the product, it can be a wonderful experience to read. It's useful for so much more than just understanding functions, it's like technical philosophy! Again, I'm not representitive of the whole! So far, I'm the only person I've met that thinks like me.

I loved reading your manuals for Circuit and Populus, they were just as inspiring to me as the devices themselves!

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justin3am wrote: I loved reading your manuals for Circuit and Populus, they were just as inspiring to me as the devices themselves!
:hihi: you're either a bit sweet or a bit mad. either way, thanks. what with my 'reputation' for being incomprehensible, this stage has represented a challenge.

it's squawking, quick break from egg sitting :p
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.

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xoxos wrote:what with my 'reputation' for being incomprehensible, this stage has represented a challenge.
I don't think you are incomprehensible... I think at times care must be taken to understand the words you use in the context of your mindset.

In that regard I read you as a stream of consciousness poster as opposed to someone that is trying actively to put forth an "online persona"
Last edited by justin3am on Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

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justin3am wrote:So far, I'm the only person I've met that thinks like me.
I'm the other one :hihi:

I have to read the manual first, and after I start playing with the plugin I regularly go back to the manual to compare what I thought I understood, what I experienced and what is written in the manual.
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justin3am wrote:
xoxos wrote:what with my 'reputation' for being incomprehensible, this stage has represented a challenge.
I don't think you are incomprehensible... I think at times care must be taken to understand the words you use in the context of your mindset.
+1 We do not share the same implicit context so the manual can seem a little cryptic, with not enough details on the tricky parts... So the manual does help because it gives a hint as to what the goal of the plugin is, but it keeps it in a veil of mystery at the same time.
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antoine.bertier wrote:
justin3am wrote:
xoxos wrote:what with my 'reputation' for being incomprehensible, this stage has represented a challenge.
I don't think you are incomprehensible... I think at times care must be taken to understand the words you use in the context of your mindset.
+1 We do not share the same implicit context so the manual can seem a little cryptic, with not enough details on the tricky parts... So the manual does help because it gives a hint as to what the goal of the plugin is, but it keeps it in a veil of mystery at the same time.
I agree.
You can't always get what you waaaant...

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a great part of my textual aesthetic is conciseness.. i feel it has a much better chance of being read if the paragraphs are short.

oc given my tendencies, i usually devise some fairly macabre sentences, and i tend to employ universal over vernacular.. i guess like that hegel guy.. another word-wrangler-fetisher-obscurer..

hey, it's sunday morning, i have no idea why it's important for you to read that :hihi: i guess i'm reacting to antoine's enticing yet enigmatic statement.

manual as tone-poem.. pdf > midi??

and yes, for any big companies reading this.. if you're over 20 pages.. index is the key to the end-user experience... every proprietary term, every component and concept must be referenced therein ;)
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.

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I always read the manual, but I'm stunned that so few people voted "GUI should be self-explanatory" and I attribute it solely to the fact that few people even try to use interesting experimental plug-ins.

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