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alternativesford00clar - Calhoun: The NPS

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1. e 4 a AY Na y A Y gt iaa dis inn re ae i Ten Nitt Ps Oo decian La AO e Ys a ey ZEN ih AA E ha A JR fete aoe h vata ids CN Zs mela de ie TH ce T en 2 eres ie OT E nat a a ott 4 4 Yo MARN A PS gins de E A ar ia aa eE n ran eet erin be rk 5 sar a has Y wore 5 e ia BEALS A Shae AA W laprA A y Rak irae rack A se snare e oq i a y 2 y 133 e A AA a yale ei Es 14 Wy s ph A pe pr pe t pir ds arde ty PP nagar E Saree es A aie A E E mis ON KORE An ae A A c ci way eS ana Ra ARAL a AS os 4 ae dh a ear A A aia otter ith E ah A BQ et Nye 9 Es ys ie veka Mh 5i Lal orn Cae arate tas eta y da ket da oe yo Res aia abate 45 5 4 02 A en alar RASS 7 wn Sa ay a hyd Sat a7 Na nite rege ra yoo ren 0 nae A pie Hy yg A Ee CELTI 128 Yo 4 H y Ai Nha Ae ea RAN wt SA ape eit n gt E A 1 i gt y PAN a m FP a ELIT Al a x oy Ae orm O ie et Mae pr pto sy A e ta ay 47 4 v a RSE A ids S quo an hT pato AA iy i inet ut ay k Deda rer A oan me pater iki yeahs care aye E pez y de ieee E aaa AAA A Ae y mage sae YAN A qin Ate PRA te eat D Oe mori no Lie oe omen a a e KE TETS x y El PA Ap Rava eae a eee a Me Rat he oth E Ta ARIANA Pare AS a 4 ba err po dei a E i yo REIN et A A a mrar ar A e Tey ay yy e SS AN P tas e ve elon y Ad im y b Reig ole ied E PEt a SAA ca agen Ses la fq ete E Pa pa E oan qe 1 k i f ees al t gt
2. 15 Exiting the Edit Screen sere eee 15 Editing and Adding Records in the Browse Screen 15 Undoing an Edi AA IR ce ee A 16 Memo Fields E eee eee ce 16 Viewing a List of Records 0 0 ee ee 16 Marking Records for Deletion 1 A ee 16 Unmarking a Record for Deletion eee 17 Deleting Marked RecordS A oc a ee eee 17 Sorting a Database s i 65 oee ee ee 18 Indexing 2 SN 5 be 4 ooo cle Seo 18 Sorts within Sorts ooo eee O en oe 19 Activating an Index AR ie yc SN 19 Searching a Database eame ea oaee oe 19 Searching for Specific Records enese sessnsnene 20 Forward and Backward Searches 00 ce eee eee eee 20 86 aex Sean 0 a aaa a aa 20 Semm DN Zi The Query Design Screen 0 aaaea 22 Saving as uery fen Future Use mm mig seen eaa 23 AM E Saved CI A O TO OO cuter a 23 AA EA 23 DSActigatmiG a QUEN oa aaa O ARA SR 24 SS BY m aoa e a e e 24 Cean a C USIOM RCDOM aa e gt 24 Saving Repon Rormals as o A gt 27 Moding REDO FOrmatS Se e ee WR a naaa 27 AID O O A ss a a ar a 28 Printing the Database Structure oooooo oooooo o 28 Praning a OCK E 28 Sinti 28 CONTIG CLES SC Na A 29 sioth ee e 30 ELS LI o A AA 31 87 ntroduction to Local Area Networks A local area network LAN is a group of microcomputers or other workstation devices located in the same general area and connect
3. MY bit RAP Yeg ee ee y 3 4t oh 11 2 UN ms d a fica ae q CURE a r SRI a tigate j Fsh S h x 3 DE aean ba ES ye ns py 8 ary A kei i 7 Py t 3 i 2 A 4 4 79 Va 4 f de ee ms gee MANS x SN aw oe me EN i ADAN tos A Nee CE a 3 1 sh fy aes 4 4 13 E i a r 4 d 1 miss 28 AAA 194 e p 2 ti 4 4 y it ton he bit at oe ty Ce kad ats anc Pe AA fee i ey ok ae vii y O i Ms y yA Y de A do us j ees Cae pro y nit O NE A ate BY y 2 ur y dr Lp aA 3 ae t y RO A ist i Weis ie TEN MOCOS y E ARO PA IA A ICO LO AS a A oe AOL el gt A A pe y 1 k AUS Y yh 1 Ve 2 RAR A fi ni x R y 14 4 gt 7 yen Sa e pa Ad went mike er Rare A Se BAK AES Nah edo i oa AA oa Be 47 44 O 7 oY 7 TAN A X OL Aa Rh Y Aaa ai A AAA en fous 4 A y rats E 03 A Was 2 a 3 whe i Aa a a a A o o ARA ES is as K aes an ip ta 4 17 y La Soe r RS ioe i af i A 1 pres A A pa AY E S n K ve ki eg aL i rie beth sly lors A Gat Oe AU ASUS ap ih eds abs NSN Sa Re A SA SEA ay nah eal eas E yy PI A o Mee WT va AE Hy ANI POS A E sas IIA A at oD ey ni oe ye
4. 1986 Fitzgerald J Business Data Communications John Wiley and Sons Inc 1990 Madron Thomas W Local Area Networks The Second Generation John Wiley and Sons 1988 Schatt S Understanding Local Area Networks Howard W Sams and Company 1990 63 This guide is primarily for those of you who are either new to WordPerfect and or are new to working on a network and need to get WordPerfect running so you can create that first document If you have used WordPerfect or any other word processor you are used to running the program from the subdirectory where the program files are stored On a network the procedure is different The program files are stored on the file server where they are shared by other network users If every network user stored document files in the WordPerfect subdirectory on the file server it would be difficult to figure out which file belonged to which user and extremely difficult to locate files Thus users cannot edit delete or save files in the WordPerfect subdirectory they need to save files to a floppy diskette WordPerfect is a text oriented word processor which means that as you create and edit your document it appears on your screen as ASCIl coded characters to see your document as it will be printed you can select the WordPerfect View document feature As soon as you boot up the system and select the WP51 start up command from the menu an initial WordPerfect start up screen appears brie
5. t A 30 PoP r CIA RAA ay My Hi on W4 ite nd aero HAF LO oe t wig KERI Y 14 y 1 tr t 1 amp 4 A Ral ot pany 1 ti gt Dy gt sn Me 5 be lt i ep bs ey NN au et JAR a Ua ae mee eer Hue Pee A AR A RON A E eae ne SA tata Sea AA S rey eas a vis eee cay is pr as Y SAN pe ee PI rs S yey Y AA a n aA sit A foes rey me aaa und pitas Rly tae aA ad Pi EAEE RCO AEE ICAA ae a ede 8 aera bi 5 er 5 o RARR ORKE Ea on ee ee Ns ENEY aS Re AAN ERG ad Ke y PARAS Sis Ry MEMBER Css n EREE R RERS ANNS i e Ye Se AN E I a rat 4 34 i oe a IN E eies OE E Ros Y E UY eves A sa ts U he AS 3 54 ie eye p vt lt t A e Cosa vi CEN i UA e h P a j ev e A a Pate y RRUA Nae e ee a ero Neo DN REPO are A ee OEY ig ER Nai Sea gt TOS a 4a A nay Reed NS Y ENNS AMN ang a aa ret ES ait Me tat SA A pa jf 5 dE PO IR oe os pene Pe Ee oe as O 6 4 i v AZ jal NAS OR Pe RAS AOS NG A Gath ea Sgt ws eek E dl Ays HARA e tet NA Y A Spreng ic ete eh Y A IA E A ae ras we va Raney my x Hi ERA ey vie PAA a whe ARVAN Ay es f i i sj Se a ints s ta SU Es aa 4 s g P avs see 3 Re x hos to of RAD ey a R d A y Suds ed e e t 2 i gt an Erg S RAR ii EA a ieee th EEA 00 PE N E Re z O i 8 toe a Pe A E Ras E or goa Aa y ar Py ga Motes bi ia RODEA Y HAPA y ee te nie A ys pees 2H pas Fot
6. 4 yg 3 O i 4 ny fo ak o LD TO ae 7 BER A as a na s AA 1 AO tte ey watt ge yen luat i ha tar x io y j aes e E e Bee ee a oe E tgs ES cts E A ODA O A Ai 4 A Ne iM i Den yuna nadie id it Haro 7 4 A dt CA 3 s AARU toed s LEAR Saath hee hy nf boys Ath A y S i i HOR ee gq vel 3 Eri 3 ana of EN i A r es x leg e oa 3 wah y s a jet nta 2 y Y Tp gt J 8 4 gt y EN tal Pont y 4 J ED y TEEN 2 eae z shy et Ba ES A ax a y Sis ce Kuo CIE A if Ke CURIA i is E y 4 trate W a sae EN dE y e A x edt an ys Peer kaa aie da pd 2 e te age ase Ar Has y sy 4 sep ye ee b s uf oF 1 Ht eh E e he 1 par a y ays hey pi y sv Pee ager thy A LS zyme uy e y MRU O Tela 4 23 af ity gt q mF G SEIS 5 bh cabal pte 100 We SE Sine Re ty her Ate H 4 we a e A nate A Fae N NRN Nela git yt a E E LS a oh ty y toa Sse 2 e yd DA A gt Le E pN yi aiy fi ak re AAY an fri 7 p NEE 3 ae fy ar y ES do a we gt 3 se Y ACT iby TE LN i voy NG A WL Tt Cink saat DEANS t Ri A z a gt e A ery Po S 3 ba y ap ela AE SE nl kaia yh a ori Ree lt o w EN T od yo A ITA ARE RIN h ee AAA ld Pero At A E 1 l Ls gt aa 4 iter ta E y A lt ae ye A Vi UR La Suar Ves 7 bok La tap Py ae Le eS q 7 1 Yao A a P ZE y qe fe A 0 My vt 0 ATA ea w poe A e E rary y a Bik iok H PR wept A E ve yu y gt s e 1
7. Format them so they stand out from the text and so the subordination is clear e Make columns of text no wider than 65 to 70 characters per line 4 5 inches Wider lines of type are hard to read Documents are usually made up of three major sections the front matter the main text and the back matter The front matter includes all or some of the following title page copyright or acknowledgements page table of contents list of figures and or tables symbols and conventions page and installation and start up guidelines The main text is the introduction and main body of the document The back matter contains any appendixes needed a glossary and an index Williams and Beason 1991 For simple in house documents such as those created for this study only the parts considered absolutely essential are included 4 Lanquage If you want users to get the most out of the program use language that is clear strong and direct Williams and Beason 1991 and Brockmann 1991 provide many guidelines which were considered when formulating the user s guides e Use nonsexist language Use generic titles and descriptions e g chair instead of chairman and nonsexist pronouns and adjectives Some techniques to help include addressing readers directly e g You can 47 instead of He can use the plural form rather than the singular e g programmers keep their disks instead of a programmer keeps his disk if the title
8. and currency of the method This researcher was looking for a method which has the following attributes 1 versatile enough that it could apply across most development situations 2 easy to understand 3 speedy assimilation 4 sufficiently complete and 5 applicable to military graduate students Also this researcher desired a method which had been developed or updated within the last couple of years so that its techniques would incorporate industry advancements and evolutions For these reasons a combination of the SDP formulated by R John Brockmann 1990 and the Documentation 38 Development Process formulated by Williams and Beason 1991 were selected as the guides for creating the user s guides contained in the appendixes of this paper B COMPARISON OF SCREEN AND CATEGORIES OF PRINT DESIGN The content classified types of software documentation reference and tutorial discussed in Chapter 2 can be further categorized into five basic classifications Williams and Beason 1991 e Tutorial Teaches basic program functions through controlled lock step practice sessions e Procedures guide Explains and gives step by step instructions about how to perform all the functions of the program e Reference material Describes in detail commands functions fields key assignments and or messages e Quick reference piece Lists the most frequently used commands functions or key assignments may be a card keyboard templa
9. apeh y th SA A Criada Dire jayne Y gt The de DE E pro oid am an edna ena ae Es ea A 7 ok y W hN WON e 45 Ae a ci a Prima pe erro ey plas i A a a e z A 4 z a a d KIS er t Ag EN aN hc A MAANI nit hg at 0 i E avis rv RRAN Ri E irc apt poke by ie mal le Ri Y La y liwa u 7 fan ee as 252 ue j IS O np ar z a nar e A al o za a EAS dd ale Toy Rae s he er a ES N ys ets ae ees ai a 4 A EROS AA 1 iene ss i E A EAN Si P hy ioe Py a y se see SRE ed onde in AL warn i a eS y A o O Dala ze A debs Set Rae eee eee TN PES i s y O tines Pew e LA Sih era i wy y f ROIA Eiri ORAS W Sen o oy tp a a A t s da 3 STO AA yy Weiss O y JAA f y vr Faye aos Sli a Mass vee Wind Pag oy fa C A s O E LA 7 i i eee A de i Jain ots gt Lens at Nee ER Wee he den P es ny EE a EY A i As yee A A ilin yh Y 3 4 E A Petar ap 4 4 A EA ae Se z pa i gy by ere oe Ye paces AS es y i ee G AIN A PE hes INTE AR PARA x X A ea y 4 o an kZ E a Ae K qn Catral Y s A oft ail Pe SO Su AS gt BES e a e a nn Yu r 3 ii at y s 1 A ae pS Tot ey s ehhh Y g uh falta ee ey 00 ae i ys f Els er e va gt F af el ae A t a Hora x j i 7 Y EN e E A eee Pye Mey A le ce AO ee Magic wal a io ashy SNS t ae nies AS A E ehi 2 1 ate ye Vela i bee fits Shack rd ha i hy Y 7 m Ce dy 3 N a ee aos RSE i 7 RO ars A we es EN ry tay ve f Le pe i XR ia EN po RA one NE J
10. cabling system The server is usually a microcomputer that is specifically designated to act as the network server The server performs only those functions required of a network server it can only be accessed by users through their user computers Server functions include repository of software programs network management printer and other peripheral device management and database repository The user computer is normally a microcomputer or terminal and is connected to the server by a cabling system A simplified schematic of a typical connection is shown in Figure 1 One server can support more than one user computer usually six to ten The cabling system connecting the server and the users can be PHONE UNE USER PRINTER Figure 1 LAN Schematic present in a number of forms and configurations Cabling can be twisted pair wire coaxial cable and fiber Optic cable Configurations include bus ring and star 62 Logging on to a LAN as a user gives access to all the software on the server When a software package is chosen a copy of the software is downloaded to the user computer for execution The user computer executes the software like a standalone computer not accessing the server again unless a peripheral device such as a printer is needed Further information on these and other local area network topics can be found in the references listed below Suggested References Berry Paul Operating the IBM PC Networks Sybex Inc
11. made up of data processing professionals but also clerical workers and managers One way to meet these disparate needs 1s to create user documentation that can be used by the different levels of users and incorporate them into the learning process A PROBLEM BACKGROUND AND DEFINITION This is the age of the microcomputer As microcomputers continue to grow in numbers and use so does the need for communication among them Spurred by the need to share hardware software and data local area networks LANS are expected to proliferate in this environment Sachs 1985 Many offices are now sharing their computer resources through networks but even in small non networked office environments the potential for sharing computer resources is present and the move towards distributed systems is inevitable This prediction is based on the assumption that most personal computers do not operate in offices alone In some cases programs and data in offices are shared among machines and users via the exchanging of disks Normally as an organization grows so does its need for more powerful computers larger storage devices more memory increased efficiency in the retrieval and update of data and more sophisticated peripheral devices Luhn 1985 de For organizations who want to cut costs one solution is to share their equipment Derfler 1986 This cost cutting objective can be achieved through the use of computer networks Networks offer an effe
12. sufficiently specific to the users tasks e Second they can foster a superficial consistency e Third research data are currently too incomplete to support all the rules in these standards and so best guesses are packaged indistinguishably with soundly researched principles e Fourth and most important guidelines rules and Standards invite documenters to forgo testing with real users Some adults resist explicitly addressing themselves to new learning Two paradoxes motivation and assimilation are described as explanation for this kind of behavior The motivation paradox is the production bias people bring to the task of learning and using computers The chief goal is throughput reducing motivation to spend any time just learning about the system so when situations occur that could be more effectively handled by new procedures people are likely to stick with those they already know regardless of their efficacy The assimilation paradox is that people apply what they already know to interpret new situations Though often helpful irrelevant and misleading similarities between the new and old information can blind learners to what they are actually seeing and doing leading them to draw erroneous conclusions or preventing them from recognizing possibilities for new functions Carroll and Rosson 1987 In the design of documentation that takes the systems approach which focuses on step by step procedures in which the rea
13. 11 12 document comments 11 DOS text save amp retrieve 11 generic files 11 passwords 11 Thesaurus 11 Typeover 7 8 Undelete 8 9 Underline 11 12 Uppercase block 12 User 2 View document 10 14 on TR network in 1 224 TN12 TN15 TN23 14 Windows screen 10 11 switching screens 10 11 83 APPENDIX C dBASE IV 1 1 Basic User s Guide 84 Base IV LA A Basic User s Guide For use on the Administrative Sciences Information Systems AS IS Computer Laboratories in 1 158 1 224 and 1 250 September 1991 A C amp P Product Table of Contents Introduction to Local Area Networks 0 0 cece ee eee eee 3 Starting dBase IV a A A 6 The Control Center BR Sa ee 6 The Menu Bar 0 52 08 A 6 The Catalog Line lt ue rr es 5 7 The File Panels E A E A 7 The Current File Description Line o 8 The Navigation Line 2 0 eee 8 Getting Help aea sa 2 1s RS ee 8 Creating and Saving a Database Structure o ooo oo 9 Creating a Catalog J o 1 ee 9 Defining Data Fields Mins aen A a 10 Making Changes and Corrections 0 000 eee oo 12 Saving the Database Structure o o oooooooo mono 13 Working with the Database MIR TEE TA A 13 Entering Data into Records cum AN 14 Editing a Record in the Edit Screen o
14. Alt F4 The message Block on begins blinking at the bottom left of your screen T3 2 Position the cursor at the end of the block as you move the cursor the included text will be highlighted then press Block lt Alt F4 gt again 3 Select the operation you want applied to the block You can choose from the menu items at the bottom of the screen or use a function key or combination of function keys as summarized below lt Key Sequence gt F1 Cancel Alt F2 Replace Ctrl F2 Spell Shift F3 Switch Ctrl F4 Move Alt F5 Mark Text F6 Bold Alt F6 Flush Right Shift F6 Center Shift F7 Print F8 Underline Shift F8 Format Ctrl F9 Merge Sort F10 Save Action with Block On Cancel block Replaces in block Checks block Changes block to all uppercase or lowercase Cuts copies or moves block Cuts copies column or rectangle Marks for ToC list index paragraph numbering Bolds block Moves block flush with right margin Centers block Prints block Underlines block Protects block Sorts block Saves block in a new file rinting and Viewing a Document 74 From the screen you can print the entire document a single page or a marked block of text It s a good idea to view your document before you print though to make sure it looks like you want it to look you will save costly printer paper and time by first previewing your document Printing The system boot dis
15. Pull down either the Layout or Exit menu and select Save This Report or Save Changes and Exit respectively When dBase presents the prompt Save as type a valid DOS file name and press Enter After dBase has written a program for itself to print the report later it will return you to the Control Center where you ll see the new report name in the Reports panel Modifying Report Formats 1 Highlight the name of the format in the Reports panel of the Control Center and press Shift F2 Design You can also press Enter and then select Modify Layout from the submenu that appears 2 You ll be put in the report format design screen where you can make the changes you desire 3 After you ve modified your format save your work by selecting Save Changes and Exit from the Exit menu If you do not want to save your changes select Abandon Changes and Exit instead You ll be returned to the Control Center 4 If you want to save your modified format as a new file leaving the original unmodified format intact select Save This Report from the Layout menu and provide a new file name Then select Abandon Changes and Exit from the Exit pull down menu 112 rinting The following sections will guide you through printing the database structure printing a quick report and printing customized reports Printing the Database Structure You can print your database structure fairly easily from the Database Design screen 1 Highlight the datab
16. SAVE often It only takes a few seconds and can save HOURS of retyping Saving without Exitin You should save your document every 10 15 minutes in case there s a power surge or failure affecting your workstation or the file server If you leave your workstation for any reason while working on a document make it a habit to save your work first 1 Press Save lt F10 gt You will see this prompt in the lower left corner of your screen Document to be Saved a lf you retrieved the document from your floppy diskette or saved the file previously WordPerfect will provide the drive path and document name e g A WORK DOCUMENT DOC as a default 3 Select lt 2 gt Graphics Screen Type 4 Select lt 2 gt Auto select 5 Press lt ENTER gt 6 Press lt ENTER gt then follow the instructions for viewing in the body of the guide 76 1 To save the file under the same name press lt ENTER gt and respond lt Y gt to the prompt Replace ANWORK DOCUMENT DOC No Yes to indicate that you do want to replace the original version of the file with the edited version The default setting is No which allows you to leave the existing file intact and save the new version under another name 2 If you want to rename the file in order to keep two versions of a document press lt ENTER gt to accept the No setting WordPerfect will allow you to enter a new file name including drive and path designations Type the
17. TE M t Lhe ae gt todt t t t rp ERE 162 ah bar ri MS he AS hes fiat 2 a eh ARA LO ot eai EY PAD es y y vee ee t y E fi ea Me a s rahe eit ie SE Hae aaa east a ES ANS ee OI TT OS e A ee ay POZA fot fr BES vy aie si Es 2 ee eet CER eee GET ae a PSY REA nae cnet tata th tersa A us BP a ada er Bs Pe Fe AS HAE rie Pea RS MPT EAR a ORR HEATA O ee O Ee O ao RFA ANE LOR A 6 Rar kei a poe kOe IST S E e rra Pe A N PU gt oo a as 7 IE Et yei ate E t A e Los Bae Bite a Fea i AROS DI ENE o Wales AO HA A e ds oe AA ER i Ky ay ask y 7 A A K Pat oh NES t A F r t Aa foe 3 fin at Fy APRA Por A a PAE Paga ta ak h B ES ESOS AAA A nee Ze Ae do 8 A sa Jo DAE y ct J IAS LN A A ae kg rea mo i in Ss pie ne cd el mek AOS og aif hfs A we he yl we S 3 eN ni qs eto J Yo co A je ats j a nt A e pea se 5 SES ay ee Cts h te Howe ate t O ES see e rli q t NA p t Ay K i 5 IEL HS i ai ARRET Aah poes R sao i Nae AL I ae a yf ee A A Eta Cde whi a BS rag ay yet ae a y AN O ONDA ae ee Ez da ae Wie de ee ie oe CARTAS Sp A i y pas exh ed tee we Aye vi te AA A ee ne Ht ipa y e us thee N i Pak ay Seats Sete Earn a Ry AAN DN ie POT PE NN ON US q A EL e ge fe MAA Re ST OI TOS nu 3 MN Lv Y ig t ts Lis sa EE R CO Zener LAs qe ase Weer ae deed dae Neate 2 f 4 PUA AA 57 Pe Pel AS El fi fs SE EE plp y IO t A A vi Le 4 yl x i piti zef Pier ae l i Le aves Aya I
18. a database file d Report summary printed once at the end of the report and can be used to display totals or closing information about the report e Page footer printed once at the bottom of each page and can be used to display page numbers or other useful information 2 Select Quick Layouts from the Layout menu Select a layout from among the three options provided a Column Layout columnar listings similar to the quick report b Form Layout forms using a format similar to the Edit screen for records c Mailmerge Layout form letters with information from a database inserted into predetermined locations in the letter 3 After selecting a general format for your report select the margins When printing on 8 5 x 11 inch paper a right margin setting of about 64 will give generally adequate left and right margins on the printed page a Pull down the Words menu from the menu bar and select Modify Ruler b Press Tab or Arrow Right to move to the left margin column then type to mark the left margin position Then use Arrow Right or Tab to position the cursor to the right column margin and type to mark the right margin MOS c Press Ctrl End to finish modifying the ruler and record changes 4 Edit the field templates and text to your satisfaction a To edit a band move the cursor to the band border which contains the band name If the band is closed no blank space beneath the border you need to open it by pressi
19. a database you must make sure that the database file is open and then you must get to the Query Design screen 1 Press Shift F2 Design from the Edit or Browse screen or use the arrow keys to highlight lt create gt in the Queries panel from the Control Center and press Enter After you ve viewed or worked with the results of a query you can return to the Query Design screen by selecting Transfer to Query Design from the Exit pull down menu In addition to the usual menu bar at the top of the screen and the status bar and navigation line at the bottom the Query Design screen includes a file skeleton and a view skeleton The flle skeleton near the top of the screen displays the names of all fields in the database you will use it to specify search criteria In the leftmost column is the name of the database file that the skeleton represents Each field name in the database is listed in boxes to the right of the database name You can use the Home End Tab and Shift Tab keys to scroll left and right through these field names and to view those that are off the edge of the screen Although the Query Design screen initially contains only one file skeleton you can add as many as 7 more enabling you to construct complex queries involving several databases 107 2 To specify the records you want a query to display you enter filter conditions in the file skeleton You put the filter condition under the appropriate box highlight the fi
20. ae Wr fp eof oh a a F gt o Ut tar rae 1 NS sert cp ed E E AA D S ra pt m ELTE ES E gt Ys ae OUP E ered Be one a See ere yn RN One Brees son M N ER Bee Rapa Cat ARGE A IAA E A ae te iets e ened wee Sas Y PTAS fa NS ah Gaines iS ShK A tu cor t YAN A ee AWN ae PA Lar PALOS Mad A A ane 0 O YO E scones whe ot x SAO a ES ve xy HS aa oth mine eas 4 3 v are oa od oat X un ya hee pr x At aan Lage T a FP rS P d Oe ap an is sree k 4 Feres equ 5 w Ni Ry Whe f UE q 6 t VINA sera yl 4t Act a A cs i i A O t Es sat a N AO H Kan Sus ne i ee VENY Ser ek key Pe 3 apt MASS Lay vts t E ye 3 No 146 gs ree UP a bi N wA hi ae Sith YA Ot eH Er 3 vir GANO Pate He itm rat shot Oye hed A HEM E E Ys a Me oh th Cx a 1 s A Pad CE ye aie Ai Ea Ap eo ft s e wa ee o aes TS edo mane Ne PEE ES eS MRE SI eke wl rey ah KA AA A E bes a E tet tees Che ee e uy i na 3 K eal A mae Serene ITEE A a ia AA pisa SA LA SE OEA AAA ARA eat hy T oo ERROR o a IO RAE NSS SNN M Nes AG pa AS MA ee pdt ty ek eys oi iat fh Cg E nd Aut AO 3 Farah iar A ribs a qt i A vi H a te A as R N K NR AS SUN A ELA YA i si APS oN yA E vehi A a ig Qu i Dip 4 ARAS Hin W cu A O A AA ens Slee at yoi ESO ee ti NS Adee ai Bie bibl Teast AISI PYY A SE 2 vd Ox Fel i cs Ev ES as Paar uy oth A ome me ye Ye te MY BD de A Laake CIN a sea ee yb reat ey A DEAR AA ae Ages oe Re hee Nee pe CMC AA Aer sd ae A Ase
21. any time to get help with dBase IV The help screens are context sensitive which means they provide help that is relevant to the operation you are currently performing whichever operation is currently highlighted After pressing F1 a help screen or window will appear on the screen The navigation line at the bottom of the screen will tell you the keys to use to navigate the help screens usually F4 for next screen and F3 for previous screen The Arrow Left and Arrow Right keys will move you among any help options offered in the help window The help system s Table of Contents can be accessed by highlighting the CONTENTS option and pressing Enter You ll see a list of topics concerning database files HELP OPTION BRIEF DESCRIPTION CONTENTS Displays a table of contents for the current topic When a table of contents is displayed you can use the F3 More General or F4 More Specific key to change to more general or more specific tables of contents RELATED TOPICS Displays a list of topics related to the current topic BACKUP Scrolls back to the previous screen This option only appears if there is a previous screen PRINT Prints a copy of the current help window When you are finished with the help system return to the Control Center by pressing the Esc key reating and Saving a Database Structure Each piece of raw data a phone number name street address inventory code and so on is placed into its own field Several fie
22. by step fashion It is usually organized around user tasks or a hierarchy of user needs Brockmann 1990 A 15 year survey of users carried out by Control Data Corporation Scientific Data Systems and Xerox Data Systems resulted in two apparently contradictory findings Half the users thought manuals had too little detail and half thought they had too much detail Two part manuals with a tutorial and a reference section were suggested as a compromise by the survey takers By clearly segmenting the manual in two parts the user can choose the coverage of material appropriate for his her particular situation Brockmann 1990 Borland described much diversity in views of documentation between users with little computer experience and programmers with up to twelve years experience Borland s solution manual was one with a tutorial a reference and a cookbook filled with recipes to accomplish tasks and procedures for using illustrations both of the steps and of the result Borland 1984 Selection of material coverage for a software manual should also be influenced by the open endedness how much it can be customized used and viewed in different ways of the 20 software to the user General database development packages for example are open ended to a greater extent than a spell checker thus the material in the database manual would probably be presented as a reference manual In a software package which can be viewe
23. correct information 2 To add a record press the Arrow Down key until the following message appears at the bottom of the Browse screen gt Add new records Y N 3 Press Y The pointer moves to the first field of the next blank record 4 Type in the data in the fields pressing Enter after each entry The keys listed on pages 12 and 13 can be used to navigate the Browse screen 100 Undoing an Edit Occasionally you may change or erase a field s contents accidentally Before you move to a new record you can undo an edit 1 Highlight the Records option on the menu bar 2 Select Undo Change to Record and the previous contents of the record will be restored Memo Fields A memo field marker appears as a highlight with the word memo on the Edit and Browse screens When the memo field contains information the marker is shown in uppercase letters 1 To open the memo marker move the cursor to it and press Ctrl Home or F9 Zoom 2 After editing the memo field save your work and return to the form or Edit screen by selecting Save Changes and Exit from the Exit pull down menu or by pressing Ctrl End Viewing a List of Records On the Edit screen you are limited to viewing one record at a time With the Browse mode however you can view a screen full of records 1 From the Control Center move the pointer to a database file name in the Data panel 2 Press the F2 key The Browse screen should appear If t
24. ee ee ve F et i pt TO ISS a E eats i Ln Ae DERN EE oes AN oe ip EE SA ESAS sa AAI O AS te BET Pe A SR mee A PA aE GiT pee Be PE ihe The 2768 00033067 4 a eer Op e a 2B ies fy A Vy YS miT 4 shyt n d Y Teta t n mae We pro 4 ARAA a ESA AA f F z gt A i S ae MARI rar LA Ln file fads de Ae Py AE ip gt Py y 5 lt i t ihe i a 1 at a t e pre oy a ee hor dd SA e fe Vis es LAA pis et ET fwe y f yy x p e A t t PACAN ABI Yh Sh i ELN oie ay eves E Mats Ses SS RA RP Es Sill aN PR vee nto AO O i gt 4 eae f Ri EER genie ap KRR 7 sak eS ee ne ASA Aa Kae K Gi w i Y A q A AL ed A yaa 4 n a i y 5 E wou aN E e a t e bd ios 5 r x TUEN PE Px RAA ua qe x n os teh as iat nf 4 J SD bed ooh Pie e AR wy EA o s J ae PF ie a PRAGA a as Teer 1 i cee Se a fit Oy E a asa as Hes E Pe DUR see a EE PEIS RENE IDEAN 5 2 Mani O i t 1 ce ly p S i 1 os rk q A P n e J 7 LAO oe Rane a oun Cee EWTN Ra on a a a AE a A arpat Af ides i ERA A Hee Y eS DORIA ES iat WAT anit y Ki n yAn abet ihe in eset 4 oh lt Ei y It e E e e i A gt f en OC ne l d f AS o A GE et dde A a E d ta AEG ET p a TE AA Fath Ce es eee lt i ts at Sh edit aS ties E ote D Dalgo Sl MRAP AA E A U My y Pee ete A i toa y s ets tt ee As Mee ae Lo ay eet a Rit nyo ad ee t ERAT i KAS AAi
25. entering data 13 exiting 14 Editing records from the Browse screen 14 from the Edit screen 14 Exit Browse screen 16 Database Design screen 12 16 dot prompt 6 op Exit cont Edit screen 14 help 9 pull down menus 7 save changes 13 saving changes 20 without saving changes 12 13 20 25 Extension BAT 6 CAT 9 DBF 12 MDX 17 QBE 21 Field Name 10 Field Type 10 File skeleton 21 Filter conditions entering 21 removing 21 Float type 10 Help 8 exiting 9 navigation line 8 options 8 Table of Contents 8 Index 10 16 Index expression 17 Indexing 16 activating an index 18 in data field 10 index expression 17 sorts within sorts 17 Insert blank field 11 blank row 20 line 24 new line 25 text 23 toggle 13 Insert mode 14 24 Layout editor 23 Local area network 3 server 3 118 user 3 Logical type 10 Marking records 15 Memo field 15 Memo type 10 Navigation keys Browse screen 12 14 Database File Structure 11 Edit screen 12 for designing a database query 19 pull down menus 7 report formats 24 Navigation line Control Center 8 Numeric type 10 Panel applications panel 7 data panel 7 9 13 dec 10 Field Name 10 field panel 10 Field Type 10 file panels 7 forms panel 7 index 10 labels 7 num 10 queries panel 7 reports panel 7 width 10 Pointer 6 Printing 25 Jatabase structure 26 quick report 26 reports 26 Pull down menus accessing 6 bulleted options 7 exiting 7 navigating keys 7 shaded options 7 subme
26. gt also called the lt Return gt key NOTE In 1 250 you must have a formatted disk to Insert in Drive A before you can access WordPerfect In 1 224 you may use WordPerfect without your own disk your work will be stored on C DATA Drive C in the DATA subdirectory However you will want to copy your work onto your floppy disk to keep with you since the flles on the C drive may be deleted at any time 3 The WordPerfect document screen then appears It is a blank screen except for the status information noted earlier it is as if you were looking at a blank sheet of paper in a typewriter WordPerfect s online help is available any time you are working with the program 1 To get help about the use of a particular function key or keystroke combination press lt F3 gt Help and then press the key or keystroke combination to begin viewing the information 2 To get help about a particular feature command by name press lt F3 gt followed by the initial letter of the feature command name such as lt S gt to get help on Search When a letter has more entries than will fit on one screen type the letter again to display another screen of entries After locating the name of the feature on the Help screen press the function keys indicated under the keystrokes column to obtain information about the feature s use 3 WordPerfect s Help system is context sensitive so when you are using a particular function you can get more info
27. how to improve the document before it is completed Changes can then be made and the guide retested before the completed version is released This has long been a standard method of testing computer systems and programs B TEST OBJECTIVES The main objective is to identify problem areas in the manual while it is still in the development stage Usability testing is designed to help find problems in the manual s wording flow and layout It should indicate whether the writing style used in the manual can be understood by the intended audience help identify steps that may have been inadvertently left out and point out descriptions that do not match tasks The testing can also provide information from test subjects on what areas they would like to see covered in the guide 51 C TEST PLAN This researcher followed six steps in planning the usability test Williams and Beason 1991 and Brockmann 1990 Step 1 Find volunteers who match your audience profile If this is not possible simulation of a typical audience 1s acceptable Step 2 Write an instruction sheet listing simple tasks for the testing subjects to perform the tasks should use basic and representative functions of the software Step 3 Decide on a reasonable length of time to give the volunteers to complete each exercise Step 4 Choose observers and brief them about your test purpose their role and so on Step 5 Make arrangements for the use of
28. i Cons Ted wl ae Wr at he AA A a FA 4 e o 41 1 Fie ao Sane RAS by Partie ted phi eke peas ne ea Si 5 hr a EA E n k L ae ELA Lalit UE AA hian K oh he m ute at ais gt gt 154 Rat 2 ae E y Fa ss e a he des 3 d lo gas t We a aS TEA ETE A a RA i ap T E ToO ai fas AE AO out oat ney abe ni od dy y on 3 id a b me e Un O k e y q ts a e AS FPR A a td e he dy TN 4 AN pes r ud EA HP PA SA Ta 50 21 9 a a Vf A Did of we VS ae Rien di is dh Ne E re my Pe fie hag i ai SA ee O ad eth teat se lakers fom ei e a la a 5 A vse ria 534 f AA o me Jai LAR ahi CEN RP pe AA q aie sense we 4 Fe Vas ba t e i aa yee yah h my 3 pd A NA des ws ny AA Y ON He nn E CRA OF AS ory rs e ey t A Wed Ve he i 33 i A ttt fe Ay ie Pd Rss Maes de h OO ee ae at y PNTE Pa or IA e e e H f ee ee ee hs Me sc IAE Fated a ep A A mi oe e es n y a oo i LA Et gt Me E Pnoy DA ELEH oth e A A pe te A J e t is t dd a ne ee A t DARA by itt E Beir eye A Ars A died AY Ni i er re 3 E fi woke SA E y ve ae nh y Jea Si ome oe ry ARIN A E y el y3 mts Hectic 3 AY ee Bri mo gt artes js pases ah E RAA de ai Siesta A A A ci A wi 5 ER AL hy ia s DU ENE wy FA H Dis EN verge i o 7 APE j o h r s y a te th Aero Al iia A AA a i Ay gee es nf e i ti 1 ry he E y A asi 2 Ade 20 va e q Api JA nt y ain KA ha Le i oe y ae t y p a Te E 4 A ae heey
29. in historical precedent Rhetoricians have always been concerned with the 16 importance of occasion in USER S defining the purposes or aims of a piece of communication Placing the audience at the DESIGN center of discourse SEE production has also been a significant feature of WRITER S TASK ACTION rhetoric and writing study Figure 3 The Communication tae Triangle of a User so user analysis is a logical OS extension of this research Modern composition theorists have drawn upon the traditional communication triangle of encoder decoder reality to give a conceptual image to the writer reader subject triangle The rhetorical framework of user centered documentation is reconstructed in Figure 3 to give a clear conceptual view of the parameters of the discursive territory in question Johnson 1990 C SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION PURPOSES Some of the specific purposes of user documentation are to improve efficiency to overcome users fears of equipment or software and to sell the product People need to understand the systems with which they are working During usability testing of a desktop publishing tutorial the documentation writer discovered that persistent problems users had with the tutorial were tied to conceptual by issues His verbal explanations to the users of how the software program works and how it differs from word processing as well as his description of the systematic oper
30. must be Singular substitute an article a an the for a pronoun e g the operator enters a password rather than the operator enters his password repeat the title of a person rather than using a pronoun if there s no other way use he she or him her e Use plain language Use short sentences predominantly and plain one and two syllable words whenever possible e Eliminate unnecessary words Avoid noun clusters use classroom instead of structured learning environment avoid prepositional phrases use because instead of as a result of avoid redundancies use repeat instead of repeat again avoid wordy phrases use truth instead of plain unvarnished truth e Use active verbs Active verbs make your style forceful and direct passive verbs weaken your language and makes it seem vague and lacking in authority e Choose the proper tense Use the present tense most of the time it s easy to try to use the future tense which weakens your writing e g To write a program instead of If you re going to write a program D AUDIENCE ANALYSIS The IEEE Standard for Software User Documentation IEEE Std 1063 1987 1988 prescribes that a software user document shall be keyed to its audience because the identified audience dictates the document presentation style and level of detail The intended audience is to be identified and the different ways the users interact with software are to be considered when preparing user document
31. number of years Most will be pursuing advanced degrees in the administrative managerial science or information systems area and have limited amounts of free time available because of constraints that course requirements place on them Computer familiarity varies immensely with experience ranging from the novice to the dedicated computer user to those with both job experience and baccalaureate degrees in the computer field 2 Design Issues Although knowing the audience you are addressing is of paramount importance it is also vital to know how much technical information to include which information to include and how to organize that information in a meaningful orderly fashion The most frequent complaints about computer manuals are e Poorly written manuals Computer manuals are often written by technicians who have no concept of how to present information to users without using technical jargon The end product is a manual that is inadequate and difficult to understand Important information is hard to find Computer guides that are not organized around user tasks are often confusing Users have to expend extra time and effort deciphering the layout scheme Considering the audience and issues involved application documentation developed for NPS users should be brief task oriented and written in common English Two examples of essential user documentation for application software specifically WordPerfect 5 1 and dBase IV
32. of a program rather than on the user s use of that program This approach received extensive criticism in the 15 year survey of users carried by Xerox Scientific Data and Control Data corporations Users almost always preferred task oriented manuals because a software internals orientation forces users to center their business duties around the software rather than vice versa and because users must know the structure of the software before being able to use the documentation Maynard 1982 On the other hand a task orientation is based on an analysis SNS user s use of the program and is limited to what information is required to do a specific task using the program Thus the focus is turned from the system to the users using the system in their daily work Brockmann 1990 Having the user at the center allows for concentrated efforts from diverse fields toward a common goal the development of usable documents for whatever medium may come our way Johnson 1990 The IEEE Standard for Software User Documentation IEEE Std 1063 1987 1988 states that 42 Users of software need documents either to learn about the software instructional mode or to refresh their memory about it reference mode Instructional mode documents may be either information or task oriented Information oriented documents give the reader information needed to understand the computer software and its functions task oriented documents show the reader how
33. point values that sometimes require a decimal point and sometimes do not and negative numbers 4 Date type dates such as 9 26 91 5 Logical type true false or yes no entries 6 Memo type This field type can include large amounts of texts such as abstracts comments or lengthy descriptions Select the field type and press Enter d Width Here you must specify the maximum number of letters numbers or other characters that you plan to put into the field The Logical Memo and Date fields are automatically assigned a width by dBase IV so you have to specify a width only for Numeric Float and Character fields Specify the number of characters then press Enter e Dec If you entered N for Numeric as the field type the cursor will stop in this column You must enter here the number of decimal places you want in the field For example for monetary figures you would type 2 to indicate that you want two decimal places Type in the number of decimal places and press Enter f Index This column is used to control how dBase orders your records A Y es or N o indicates whether or not the field should be indexed If this option is changed to Y dBase will assign the name of the field as the name of the index and actually create the index when you save the database structure For more on indexing see Indexing page 13 Type Y or N and press Enter 3 The cursor is now positioned to define the second field Following the proced
34. potential point of difference between software producers When software products are perceived as fairly difficult to use documentation can change customers minds or not User friendly documentation shows off user friendly software together they win customers and customer loyalty Borland 1984 D TYPES OF SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION User documentation can be classified in two ways First it can be classified by content reference material and tutorial material and second by environment external documentation and internal documentation Knowing the different types of documentation will help to make decisions on what to include in a documentation package in response to the audience and the software Brockmann 1990 Reference material is technical detailed comprehensive and usually organized like an encyclopedia or dictionary for quick retrieval of information A reference manual should explain what the software can do for the user rather than comprehensively describing the product An emphasis on product capability in a reference manual allows the user to go beyond the necessarily constrained steps of a tutorial and combine product features in creative ways The emphasis of i the former is on product capability as opposed to an emphasis on product internal construction as with the latter Brockmann 1990 Tutorial material selects from the comprehensive reference material and presents information in a step
35. provides options for basic searches The first four options on the Go To menu let you position the Edit or Browse screen highlight on a particular record based on the record s position in the database file Forward and Backward Searches The bottom half of the Go To menu on the Edit and Browse screen menu bars displays the Forward Search and Backward Search options 1 Bring up the Browse or Edit screen go to the position in the database you want to search from e g select Top Record from the Go To menu to go to the beginning of the database and move the highlight to the field you want to search 2 Call up the Go To menu and select Forward or Backward Search 3 When dBase displays the prompt Enter search string type the text numbers you want to search for and press Enter To locate items that match a pattern rather than an exact value you can use the wildcard character to match a single character or the wildcard character to match any group of characters Index Searches The index search searches the database index rather than the database file and usually finds information in large databases more quickly than a forward or backward search The are two stages of an index search First using the Database Design screen you activate the index that contains the field you want to search Second using the Browse or Edit screen you perform the search 1 Highlight the database name in the Data panel of the Control Center and pre
36. s default settings Allows you to exit temporarily to DOS Allows you to check the spelling of a word a block of text or an entire document Allows you to store sets of formatting commands that can be applied to various parts of your document Converts defined block to all UPPERCASE or all lowercase letters Switches between the Doc 1 and Doc 2 editing screens Aligns text on or around the next tab stop using the decimal align character Allows you to retrieve a DOS text ASCII file into WordPerfect to save a document as a DOS text or other formats such as previous versions of WordPerfect to create document comments and to assign passwords to documents Allows you to look for synonyms for any word in the text of your document Begins underlined text or underscores selected portions of text lt Alt gt lt Shift gt lt Ctrl gt Thesaurus Setup GoTo DOS Replace lt Search Spell 72 Help Reveal Codes Switch Screen gt Indent Block gt Indent lt Move List Mark Text Date Outline Text In Out Bold Flush Right Center Tab Align Exit Columns Table Print Footnote Underline Style Format Font End Field Graphics Merge Codes Merge Sort Save Macro Retrieve Macro Define lock Operations The Block command lt Alt F4 gt is used to highlight mark a section of text for use with other WordPerfect commands To mark a block of text 1 Position the cursor at the beginning of the block and press Block lt
37. that appear at a place of your choice in the document Controls most aspects of the document format using 4 submenus Line Page Document and Other Used to set margins Moves the cursor to a specific character page or text column or to the previous cursor position Allows you to combine graphics created by other programs with the text of your document or to draw rules lines in the document Ends a page at the discretion of the user Gives you on line help about a function key function or a WordPerfect command Sets a temporary left margin and aligns all text to this indent until you press lt ENTER gt Sets temporary left and right margins and aligns all text to these indents until you press lt ENTER gt Displays an alphabetical listing of all files in the current directory allows common maintenance tasks retrieve delete move rename print copy text in and look Executes a defined macro Defines a macro begins recording keystrokes which can be replayed any time 70 Margin Release Mark Text Merge Codes Merge Sort Move Print Replace Retrieve Reveal Codes Save Screen Search Search Shift Tab Alt F5 Shift F9 Ctrl F9 Ctrl F4 Shift F7 Alt F2 Shift F10 Alt F3 F10 Ctrl F3 F2 Shift F2 Moves the cursor one tab stop to the left Compares documents removes redline markings and strikeout text and creates automatic references master do
38. their Documentation Development Process generally comprises five phases as follows e Phase I Documentation Planning Locate and review existing information and confer with team members Decide how many and what types of individual documents manuals or other printed pieces and online materials are needed Decide on the goals of the documents Write a profile of the audience Determine production methods including the means for creating illustrations producing a final draft and reproducing or printing the required number of copies Describe the physical appearance of the document put the plan on paper and get it approved Draft a schedule and get it approved Create a style guide e Phase II Outlining and First Drafts Review information in the documentation plan about readers and their needs and the goals of the document Decide how to organize the document Draft a preliminary or working outline of the printed documents including quick reference materials Draft a preliminary outline of the online materials Review the outlines and revise them if necessary Get the outlines approved Write the first draft Write or review the first draft of the online materials Make a preliminary list of illustrations Read and revise the first draft Update the list of illustrations Send the draft out for review e Phase III Subsequent Drafts Usability Testing Final Drafts Incorporate comments and corrections from the review Do any necess
39. to complete a task or reach a goal The end products of this paper two applications user s guides are more for reference than instruction but contain some general information about the application software and its functions The primary purpose of each was to guide certain NPS students on their own or if desired as a supplement to instructional courses through the basic procedures of word processing in the case of WordPerfect 5 1 and working with a database management system in the case of dBase IV 1 1 Thus a task oriented approach was adopted A task orientation in which the designer selects content and employs an organization appropriate to a user s work needs points to use of the minimalist design philosophy The goal of a minimalist design philosophy is to present material appropriately to the actual ways adult learners learn rather than fighting against their natural tendencies the way a systems e g software internals design philosophy does Brockmann 1990 Research has verified that adult learners e Are impatient learners and want to get started quickly on something productive e Skip around in manuals and online documents and rarely read them fully e Make mistakes but learn most often from correcting such mistakes 43 e Are best motivated by self initiated exploration e Are discouraged not empowered by large manuals with each task decomposed into irritating subtask detail The key idea is to pr
40. to find vs Manuals bury important information Table 2 Contrast between what users want and what users get 29 III FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND DESIGN A COMPARISON OF USER DOCUMENTATION DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES The software user documentation development process is defined and executed differently depending on where you are and who you talk to There seem to be as many processes as there are organizations who develop software or authors who write about developing software Three treatments of software user documentation development processes are presented by Brockmann 1990 Weiss 1985 and Williams and Beason 1991 Brockmann 1990 revised his original seven step Standard Documentation Process SDP which came out in 1986 to accommodate the many developments in the area of user documentation His nines Stee SDP version 2 0 now gives information on CASE tools new programming technologies research on layout format typography and use of color desktop and electronic publishing new documentation databases and the effects of new techniques technologies and ideas such as team writing styles document prototyping minimalist design philosophy hypertext and mass storage devices like CD ROM and magneto optical storage The SDP replicates many tried and tested procedures used by well respected successful documentation writers Figure 4 and the 30 following list give an overview of what is involved in the SDP Brockma
41. version 1 1 are included as Appendix B and C E LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY Much has been written to help professionals who write computer documentation to produce better manuals however few address the development of user documentation These professionals perform a variety of roles in software development settings such as system designers system operators and maintenance personnel and write different kinds of software documentation such as design documentation maintenance documentation and user documentation User documentation is the least standardized supported and understood of the types of software documentation noted Automated systems such as CASE tools rapidly becoming available for producing development and maintenance documentation have not been developed for user documentation Development and maintenance documentation writers generally follow well developed standards for the sequencing formatting and content of manuals not so for user manuals Brockmann 1990 User documentation is the most difficult for computer professionals to write because it requires communication with people who have widely different backgrounds It dictates a type of writing that translates computer operations into English that users will understand Brockmann 1990 Program users need documentation as a tool to help them successfully run and understand a program They want documentation that gives them the instructions guidan
42. work areas for the day of the usability test Make sure they 11 be properly equipped not only with the relevant computer and software but also with adequate lighting and desktop or table space Step 6 Prepare copies of the documentation that include a table of contents and an index After the test results should be compared among the test administrator and observers to see which areas consistently caused confusion among the volunteers and which areas caused the greatest degree of frustration D TEST ADMINISTRATION AND PROCEDURES The tests were carried out using the preceding plan as follows e Step 1 A total of seven NPS students were used to test the documents They were tested individually or in a group of three 52 the Step 2 For the WordPerfect guide a short letter was invented for the testing subjects to type in a document Save retrieve and print For the dBase IV guide a short database of names addresses and phone numbers was provided so the subjects could build a database structure index it by last name query it and generate a quick report Step 3 The WordPerfect test was expected to take approximately one hour and the dBase IV test twice that In fact the WordPerfect test required one hour and ten minutes while the dBase IV test was completed in one hour and forty five minutes Step 4 One observer was used This observer was an NPS student who served as a network laboratory assistant for t
43. wy ae pi ee ars eo bee LL o gs Ane a fea ares i ata a wae a zO ipt at ts se Great te UM ata SSN ig Was i Re ALA PME YA ys RAS IE ep t RT o o SP UC t y ds dad 4 ed sh ate Y prod Ela YTAN Mee 2 ide tee uh e ae dA fash Rd Pe MEA lt ee sd aed HS 4 tsat Boye ANo ies AN gigi Si NA a Va Sein Ky EA AS x A Aad y q de e di A h wk kak 5 ut tye omy Ne is Eos ew GS ub ge ished RE de es x ees ean yni TOA wet ai AO OO A a A aiala Livre we Jue AAN KNK es has y RNE Ao i K ps ae sp CA TA AIN Wh west diy ys il A me O ie ay eke as AA per gt a EEN i La gras A de Arvebed etilo i A Nao oe Sow tuel SEUA Ral eae SAA y ROUGE cee en a A TA 1 it gt o DITA gt yy ON Shee a ths a oi val ea AA ha bye AL Aye hg 0 ON IAN aime A Ra JP ee CAT w 70700 ee ieee A ue 4 he EN AQ dni k lt A aw AY Paga Cs CMe tins e p ME cs A e O E AAN Ao Ae Bao 1 AA dear Aimee wera a sas age edo ie tt PA ae oh Bas skies as ny i fa e Une A de i a i a REA RO y fray E wie y a ti ond A EES x aR oe neces See Dei ge ee Liven oe tack y S EN ER yo PE Bs Y E ES Medel s 4 res KS A E aie oe O O O E E P SS P IN y keii ve mae ia a aia Genet wh velba ae Sn S N UN y ih K ae y A 4 nik v E aie ip Maris tne af Aes de tush on Ca E A ee cs gt A et j Ae e A ae k fo da ARANA Sot ws ont Dr oe a ae pe sels i R A AN y TE A RAT TALE 4 4 5 s ROL ean 3 rs m 1 4 1 f e t hes aC tae na a NASA OS evit 5 epica E y e A gli ei t A
44. 5 i s O E pe 05 7 t a EE Wt Fs ws bi E e ae SRi NRE By y arte q S ed Be OT I E ER AGUAS E A N r l eee a E ee ee e Ge ORO a ch e A ap Ca ag ae AS DAA YY ey Feats ar 1 1A cote ca mdse X EDESA gt gt A lo 5 e y s A TE A PU A Xx INIA y e A ON be r a A a rata F AL de A ie gt Waly pe a e g a uke me nee y gt y E i EN EN yo Be a Ay a h AN al LAIA EN Pr hA gt zef A A cy Ly 3 Aan gt BAX 4 bey 8 2 Ja E O E E iea ETUE A A A i EN ERAN eS 3 AUN ET K P 7 ane ON gt ov a oie Y yg Gi DR noetb p o A Y ai o aii A Lv me Es ee nhs ERA gt AE yo a x o sana 4 os fe Y Ti A A ot bh be O Y gets pl AS ie e A A ten ri Y E tats Y ri ipti sa 77 L A PTE E EA d a ear ees a yar b 4 sp h d as sre y 4 Ad Pik ON AS Ki 0 sa de ats 4 RIA aoe o IS s Fh F i rae e ty AS PRA y y i i 0 Ey p Ds Pid it DES AS O a he vik o a Y A H ma 7 7 y er sey bi i s 120 y ou ie ds DARA re Pe 7 A Papes bel PRADA eur A ae yt A ra 5 de Pr 3 GANA ata sl Wy fins y Al se a teeter ae pe de t E gt e Af te gt t 5 quo y aa Pu gt r e e yo A Fotos EA AJA y al a s A Pa y Vd gy ARDE i ES ater A ESTU aires 2 A e Sos tate ene hE Vows eee pate ta a SAY teak Aa oop MME ater HAY A ays sige Sty ee Pe yw t E J H S p 3 i y E e aP de NS aie AS A r 3 0 y nS ial 2 y 4 a ee A 6 4 4 SA
45. 9 35 Weiss Edmond H How to Write a Usable User Manual ISI Press 1985 Williams Patricia A and Beason Pamela S Writing Effective Software Documentation Scott Foresman and Company 1990 Wilton Judith A What PC Owners Say About Documentation Proceedings of the International Technical Communications Conference Society for Technical Communication 1985 RET 10 RET 12 Zirinsky Mark Usability Testing of Documentation IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference Record IEEE Service Center 1986 25 124 INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST Defense Technical Information Center Cameron Station Alexandria Virginia 22304 6145 Superintendent Attn Library Code 0052 Naval Postgraduate School Monterey California 93943 5000 Commanding Officer Attn LCDR Nancy K Clark FOSIF WESTPAC BOX 271 PSC 478H FPO AP 96313 1801 Professor Norman F Schneidewind code AS Ss Administrative Sciences Department Naval Postgraduate School Monterey California 93943 5000 Professor Myung W Suh Code AS Su Administrative Sciences Department Naval Postgraduate School Monterey California 93943 5000 125 Thesis C48263 el Clark Alternatives for de veloping user documenta tion for applications software pat Li DUDLEY KNOX LIBRARY _ P m A oh fees g gt pod MMMM aaa eas Re eae e 3 eg ae ri Ce ne F p t Pin X De Cas EEA SAN IAEA f ee Re of he
46. 93 Records Clark Ray 8475 ThidSt Camel 9 968 lt rows ADD new information Patrick Pamela 24CasaVerde Monterey 93940 CHANGE information Black Gerald 680 Green Rd Capitola 99011 _ SORT he a Figure 2 A dBase IV Database File some useful order like alphabetical order SEARCH for particular types of information like a specific address 90 or names of all people with San Diego addresses CALCULATE totals subtotals counts and averages dBase IV offers an optional command driven technique for managing databases where you type commands at a dot prompt screen rather than select options from pull down menus This guide does not deal with the command driven technique However if you inadvertently get to the dot prompt you can get back to the Control Center by typing ASSIST and pressing Enter or just pressing the F2 key tarting dBase IV 1 Turn on your computer and log onto the network follow the instructions provided at your computer You will see the 1DIR menu with the batch file files with BAT extensions that execute application programs listings for the various applications available on the network 2 Using the Arrow Down key move the select bar to the DBASE4 BAT file and press the Enter also called the Return key 3 The dBase IV logo and copyright notice appear on the screen along with the message Press Enter to assent to the License Agreement and begin dBase IV 4 Press Enter to start the progra
47. A EKA Ak Die we OSB pale RS fit pti EE ee ay ahe ane im EE ey ee POR Ee f 5 4 a j nve A ge E i Et e AR Rat Bit is A a ne geste E KA IRE ta ii tate rt ibe 5 A ted t te t FiF A ae gt d y t OS Hore eee a ne 4 E a AT As fet A E KE Seer 4 sari MWe ION e te KIA aj A nes nm Eee ts 8 o f 5 k s A Es A Es SA ef t Ar t te ao oe bo E RTS BEN E RAE AE AER gi e e JiS Lor gt EN i ms ates 14 Sp fanart of aoe tee ae he Simao e E rei e A AA Ree e RA A a artes Bes a El ue els AS e OS fe eee tee RARA A SA dine NS AA ee RU E D 0 ie qt A DA AS q 2 Clap ged aes A eee pre APRA a g a tds moa cat acer erie t eee ae TIRAN Kas Eo ed Wi AA K A ne Ed fis a ule fe Pe VO adn weer MA O NS Se ners tous yee babes fe ie aes a RPTRA ue See is A ERA an rete Es fey RRI ee Seu he ik o dy J Ps i E Wek EEES i y toe fe r ih ries 08 dodo Re Ge y 2 F Di use ae Y PIAR EO a HA SETE O aaoi ier ap Gol ey cr os ito nit ae eS UA fe LE Spars eS poe Ans y A ad ie ie cto er Tots iedig s aere 0 ve a E S O A e El ger if odio Ce cs 1S 4 i 7 PIE a Nas Li d 23d A fAs T hel a ow Meas ae Eo ra vr ta A 5 f ve Ki SASRA Gee wa ehh d ag ENN f i LERENA WAD g 4 4 p e t t pr 4 Sees gl RES RAR MIERY GEA One NEON wey Litre e 26 aa te t SO shots said Nad ats Sane Var va per Pe i F W rt Ap td E A ve a ry ar a Ae Ae rA p fot as Y Se tae i e Aye 4 E os Ss AN E O a ae Se
48. ATION DOWNGRADING SCHEDULE 4 PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER S 5 MONITORING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER S 7a NAME OF MONITORING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate Schou 6b OFFICE SYMBOL If applicable 55 6a NAME OF PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Naval Postgraduate School 7b ADDRESS City State and ZIP Code Monterey CA 93943 5000 6c ADDRESS City State and ZIP Code Monterey CA 93943 5000 8b OFFICE SYMBOL 9 PROCUREMENT INSTRUMENT IDENTIFICATION NUMBER If applicable 8a NAME OF FUNDING SPONSORING ORGANIZATION m 8c ADDRESS City State and ZIP Code 10 SOURCE OF FUNDING NUMBERS Program tlement No Project No Task NO Work Unit Accession Number 11 TITLE Include Security Classification Alternatives for Developing User Documentation for Applications Software U 12 PERSONAL AUTHOR S Nancy K Clark 13a TYPE OF REPORT 13b TIME COVERED 14 DATE OF REPORT year month day 15 PAGE COUNT Master s Thesis From To 1991 September 132 16 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTATION The views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U S Government 17 COSATI CODES 18 SUBJECT TERMS continue on reverse if necessary and identify by block number FIELD GROUP SUBGROUP Computer Documentation User Documentation Applications Documentation 19 ABSTRACT continue on reverse if
49. EO AAA 8 Ucin onne mP orar Caen ec ec ee eee eer ees 8 A A A AA 8 Alphabeieal listingi ew RO E cere A A RA AAA 8 SEE rl EMO A AAN 11 IS E EA A iaa e 12 Par ae Ma DOCUMEN A EN 13 PT o a e a A A 13 A O e a e a 14 SI A AA CUE ncn ae a ee ee 14 Sew A A 15 Saving and Exiting WordPerfect Clearing the Screen ooooomommo m o 15 SRST pave ccs o o A oo 17 E A o ene 18 61 ntroduction to Local Area Networks A local area network LAN is a group of microcomputers or other workstation devices located in the same general area and connected by acommon cable A LAN is designed to interconnect microcomputers terminals minicomputers and other hardware for the purpose of communicating among themselves and alternately with a host mainframe computer or public network The most common reason for developing a LAN is resource sharing Networks allow the sharing of peripheral devices such as hard drives printers and scanners Application programs such as spreadsheets word processing and communication packages can be shared so that multiple copies are not necessary Databases can also be shared in such a way that multiple microcomputers can have access to a single database This capacity for sharing hardware and software resources allows greater flexibility and cost savings in the use of expensive computer peripherals and software The basic components of a LAN are the server computer the user computer s and the interconnecting
50. IV 1 1 Sybex Inc 1991 Simpson Alan dBASE IV Programmer s Instant Reference Sybex Inc 1989 Simpson Alan dBASE IV User s Instant Reference Sybex Inc 1989 Simpson Alan Understanding dBASE IV Sybex Inc 1989 index Activating a saved query 21 Activating an index 18 Adding records from the Browse screen 14 from the Edit screen 12 Browse mode 15 Browse screen adding records 14 editing records 14 exiting 16 navigating keys 14 undoing an edit 14 Catalog 7 creating 9 menu 9 name 9 Changing a query 21 Character type 10 Control Center 6 catalog line 7 current file description line 8 file panels 7 items 6 menu bar 6 navigating keys 8 lt create gt panel option 7 8 Current File lt create gt highlighted 8 description 8 name 8 Data field dec 10 defining 9 entering data 13 Field Name 10 Field Type 10 index 10 num 10 width 10 116 Database entering data 12 structure 12 Database Design screen 9 16 exiting 16 field panels 10 indexing 17 Database structure entering data 12 fields 13 making changes 11 printing 26 saving 12 Date type 10 Deactivating a query 22 Dec 10 Delete all characters 13 all fields 20 block 24 character 13 20 24 current field in database structure 11 field template 24 line 24 marking for deletion 15 records 16 row 20 text 24 Display data 13 Dot prompt exiting to Control Center 6 exiting to DOS 26 Edit screen 12 15 editing records 14
51. MA RAS ERIA cee gt oe gt PAE X AA Es y ieee LORE eee m re ee de aro r 4 gt 4 Api P ose y F is g ee x e r mp E k Wh RAET re 7 rad 22 3 feo ine e PASAS e gt il gy 3 PA i y YT PES 0 i y AI me AER 5 Se tons 7 A pig Ah RAR MS pos ke Ete a lt da fla EE ot y PE S goed i Be se Lb o ge x gt t gt gt d LA iN PATA E ay e A a Gat ute Ne a Eile Phas JO AUP SRE VI ee is iin eee tees o ee oe x s RU E A aeat ea AC gji pE s Di fie mA DA ae J Be es A ae eG E CAS m LIIE peo e s A t y i A as fy Br oy ne Cl RE gt mn t ray stats 9 AER PERRERA S en a me j go i h Te A eas A Prix FAA oY ae a a Jee PON PORRA TR gerne Bip Rs A feet PEPA rd ue oF ie ye aos Wiha i et ehh oan a 1 ary oe Wet ER A Wiser Wee Side Peis 3 as fu io fs eae A O SOAS tro et e a eet air Tg REE bey UTEP oa E a s 7 h AAMT AS PaF a ah jae a A re ae he goa 7 y y FEE ange de sh py FA mn by A STE pa a 4 m AO F fii i a AN n EA A ty ose ie oe ass fing i 2 Ti 3 k EA 7 apa eE i a E Ll 5 rier pegs LM e hF D aie ER A RE Da al god e AN E a aus wt he ct 1 310 tf yp has lt T e hy A i ye ae dee ATEO 1d pe es TON T A T E ghe as 3 E NN va RES 10 e 5 A i SO yA ens E 7 E 10 dy AS z het ae nai 1 324 A ES Re A io 4 lr e ee ae re at of r do sb a Ek Ba tas x e i att y 2 Ya A AA t x ed E T A Na A ET W zy gee t TEA ak fs Se po rae e oY s A pas 4 i
52. NADEQUATE SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION G SURVEY FINDINGS REGARDING PAPER DOCUMENTATION FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND DESIGN iv Lil Lal 15 17 I2 Ze 23 2 30 A COMPARISON OF USER DOCUMENTATION DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES 0 6 oa IN II 30 B COMPARISON OF SCREEN AND CATEGORIES OF PRINT DES TON a a we Cl 39 Es DES TONI UESIS lt lt a 41 D AUDTENCE ANALYSIS a 5 o e s ele e gt gt e 48 IV THE SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION TEST PLAN nee ae 51 A TEST PURPOSE ee o Ser E T T ee eee eee 5I B TONES EIVBS 6 a 0 os e S1 G TEST PLAN yoa o a a A ee a lw Cl 52 D TEST ADMINISTRATION AND PROCEDURES O a 52 Es RESULTS AND FINDINGS A ea AAA rr 53 CONCLUS TO TE a 6 6 eo bo er e mie o 55 APPENDIX A AS IS Computer Labs Software Directory 57 APPENDIX B WordPerfect 5 1 Basic User s Guide 59 APPENDIX C dBASE IV 1 1 Basic User s Guide Se ere 84 LIST OF REFERENCES Boe A a ee r T22 ETTAN OT STRTBUTION LIST gt gt gt s gt e 123 Es INTRODUCTION There is little doubt that the impact of the computer age has affected many in society We are being flooded with new complex computer systems in which acquiring and retaining information has become increasingly difficult The technological innovations in the computer field have created problems for both system designers and educators System des
53. Net eda iy hi has AA ES US A UNA i wot os Ye s he Co E sith ear Oda A SRAM AI Pn ae A AENA de A t de e poche YA mass Oba Ee ae E IA eg E eS tn ech ree amp e A E A s i Bere AMS tiares EaR AEN ed UNA EN FDO RO y e En CAOS 4 se ON lal tana AY gt oe ost tes Y at t NS A A vos f hes a Sy Be bin the A pay Ade 4 a A A RNG K TAS OTA iy OOTAN AAA ee A 51 YU ane ee ere e Ti n eee no ee eit at st NAS 44 pe Pe a Peruse i E e UN PARUN S NAO fr Pd oe ins SN J a Ly why se y od wee oe gt BEN a A IO bd t 4 3 t te pe b E A eerie a E Satire Cow CNR Bh Al ALA i ae A E ti ni R NGR de yey AA AS nE Akt uae e a Gad sph hiatal ok fe o isi ae ly ate i ca ak i CI E N F y aa i h y As ui a faedah yoe o es wi ho Wt rare TS Ae vy cap oe ai tk 0 EY amp 1 3 ee An cor ou ie eee th ee i A va aware Fu do pe E el SV Y AA Ar ar Heats po aX Kas Wi Beane i ee Sse bs A aa OA NR A Waals i x Panic 4 CERO Ed ee seers facet tt ie A n ro KY re ANL t is W Mi a niet ES a EK N AS a ma ni me Han b ah s 4 Ss Dee EE AL PLANS A ye do TEREN Ral Be Caner TAY Berean Id hat YE SSA ue HCA OA 4 a CIN ya AR hive AAA eh Balas l Us eo athi pes E h op AS A A A i XA bey Es a Sins a ar owes So e A NAAA widgets a eR Rig A Sa We EROS aan 8 e e4 aay Wee As i Whe wits e NES sis A A TS t 1 a oe Mr 4 PA Es Jarh pes Tne at eel Me wale Ce AAAA R i E 1 fabs Y MESA 0 Ye g ACC is i 8
54. RECTORY ROOM NUMBER I 224 I 224 I 250 I 15 NETWORK VENDOR amp PROTOCOL APPLICATION SOFTWARE Version Hayes SMARTCOM II SIMPC IBM PC 3270 Emulation WordPerfect WordPerfect WordPerfect PeachText 5000 LOTUS 1 2 3 STATGRAPHICS dBASE III dBASE Administrator dBASE IV dBASE IV INGRES DBMS INGRES TUTOR EZ RATE Tariff 500 H Annualized Cost of Leaving Model OSD Universal Knowledge Management System IBM Storyboard Plus EtherMail EtherMenu Microtek Int l EyeStar IBM Virus Scanning Pgm Polaroid Palette PSAVER Polaroid Palette for IBM PCs 1DIR Force Analysis Simuletion Model FASM Assembly BASIC C Lattice Turbo PASCAL Framework GRAMMATIK II Norton Utilities SYSTEM SOFTWARE IBM DOS 3 2 X IBM DOS 3 3 X X X IBM PC LAN O S 1 20 X X X 3COM Etherseries 2A XxX 58 APPENDIX B WordPerfect 5 1 Basic User s Guide 39 HN sat ri Linu Administrative Sciences Information Systems i re li UN A Basic User s Guide Hi For use on the AS IS Computer Laboratories in l 158 1 224 and l 250 September 1991 A C amp P Product Table of Contents Noducuon to Local Area NEIWOTKS o cake ec eee ee Mee eee 2 A EN 4 FD oo seca ne A o E 5 CIN O ee a NR 00 I gt ee 9 Creatnora WordRenectiDocumenten un e ccoo eee eee 6 A LA WW GW cies cts oo POPR 6 D en TEX INO A acs a eclscssss0c s secs veer a 7 PA A o o aa a 7 MAA T
55. TIONS Some of the concepts presented here require working definitions specific to this study Also abbreviations and acronyms used in the paper are defined here for the convenience of the reader AS IS Administrative Sciences Information Systems DDP Documentation Development Process Williams and Beason SDP Standard Documentation Process Brockmann Software Documentation Unless otherwise specified refers to USER documentation rather than design maintenance or other types of software documentation G ORGANIZATION OF THIS STUDY The first chapter is the introductory chapter including sections which present a general description of the problem background of the problem objectives of the research the research question the scope and the assumptions of the research project a brief description of the research methodology a list of definitions and abbreviations anda description of the organization of the study An overview and a review of research materials and literature relating to the purposes types problems and causes of problems of software documentation rhetorical orientation of writers and survey findings on paper documentation is included in chapter two Chapter three describes the methods used for executing the research design comparing documentation development processes comparing screen and print designs for documentation and discussing design issues and audience analysis The fourth chapter discusses the t
56. Ube t aa ek Cee Wis FS F4 e T o es ee age ryt Pie ble ao He ee Anas ate Gem oe GS AOL MN Cpt QA de AA AS SRA E AA et elas y OS 3 Ors ees Pray RR PGA rg A A OO he ot Ae mg rinsee y AS pr ERSE Soen R poner NEA An NEGUA e a HUET ase SO es RAN EP ee is yl O A a pt Peat AS ce e ad wey 8 4 Way DST Meera d A decks ey ES O T o that a C y var be wy EE HA OE AEE gat UE Ye Parad ts RESINA NA DARAN ER Le ta E KAA ye we e COG LN E e Benin me an cee jun t 5 04 h tar ki y us H DAN t pas E A e PAS A RAAR UNA naoa has yy TS ay oe ONE A A a a F Sl A Yoo hid Aon Be at O hte 18 A i Seamer eae y e Y po ze AA E y eae Boa pt ES i ER RAS AA yt KASI ite ate if JN A RA O AD Ee i itr ts res e AS RASAN AN e ue Es plan oe ANA horn AANI ma 4 SAS A ak ON A rs thr tr Gant nail o A eee i di ie A r ta nesta Chaves het Ear SN gia HORN te A AR nat Sky Oe Oe ne Cutis AOT E MO es lt lt Ca are ef is Dft E PER AVIR y A Wits ye La EA Uns Ad ers e iR asbak ak qt t s D Coast sha O A A ef et O OA A el CS ON o ered OO ies Saves ae ARA Bieta a PONE bie as a e A AAA AOS pes nie 4 cS xe II ya C FAA f UAM e GS LE crete ot ca GEI en anal Bane id NES O O A E t a A i cat q sa oy ee Cast eek AA ape ys SES SN irs ASAS dh E 1 et s yA he 8 LGN MN y k wt i aves AA qs ooo t beta raa A ES qa ons y su bq mes hate we sa atch ane ins LES eet at if ef i Aisa aA bibra st ey j ser tp ys ci A set A a E e
57. a as tty ne AD E i gt j tt aus taa HUA GT DOS OMS r OF A i Jti Pee yp aye shales NN Pa ee y EN 3 on gts t z f ee h va D AS d ri ite vee ares tee H 5 Rot e go i RAS A A RAT eT x i ene A HIBS KAE IA A e eer heey ae i 2 4 i J t A 4 e f LE Sat Mt 13 4 a gt td LA E j pe Fie ve st ae ae hoe A a bia Biot IRE are 9 Y cig ve sO TD WON Vo Oath RARA S yr 4 e 113 A JOA A PON gt oge AS m id y l a4 e oa ay eds se aes r fn ae 9 9 a AS i A vee og a 4 hn 2 oea etd 1 3 Ho ak ss d aye y 1 4 A w rie cs t eu Be A J j ni is Timed X y E Y sy 74 gt i 33 e a y t r Dy Ff Yah Ws oe pe A SP auaa AS AT TETU A a E 4 A jti Te o e A A A gt 4 i Os A t y 3 1 y A 0 we CI e gt mene gt 7 DES e A A PAM om at eu om hee NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL Monterey California THESIS ALTERNATIVES FOR DEVELOPING USER DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE by Nancy K Clark September 1991 Thesis Advisor Norman F Schneidewind Approved for public release distribution is unlimited 1257792 UNCLASSIFIED SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE as te la REPORT SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 1b RESTRICTIVE MARKINGS UNCLASSIFIED 2a SECURITY CLASSIFICATION AUTHORITY 3 DISTRIBUTION AVAILABILITY OF REPORT Approved for public release distribution 1s unlimited 2b DECLASSIFIC
58. a wy 3 ASE h oR VM ds De gs Ae 4 rear a R o i i ARNA tes A arg OPS Sona 4 Tea al us rake cae 6 Ea cs Ai 2 e Aes ES De te ak it ati pak Ms y as i aa a 1 o y i t Saale s a En ee i LE a Y y i H are Sh i O MA Y gt pe qa 8 e la AS a DR y ERN oe dea 738 en Ott aX is chs NYE PAAA Gs pateo e tanec et her eT gt Zi e AT A us MAG F a A oe a hi hd i s A ya a AA wank PEO A AN Nee binant siti eS amp SRST ON AP e 40 fikah Eno A ia the ye pl 4 Mm Be 64 i ai od t a8 t p E e fr moe a carey ine Wea Esa tts ots is at Sik A eN y Peis DTS de k y we Ase wth bs or aii t Na Yri yu amp oe y ps La bn T e e us 7 E su A Be a me i ae e a Dei pun P y P A e9 k 33 dr Re ey sQrt ast Ug ee E br J i gt t K s 3 iR mec p Pay aoe ire sat ate iay t N GE PRA gt as Mi 4 yey ant rat A tag ot b n x traten Pa AS s S SES rise H 2 a Te aor N so DEA i t t ne fg OUT GLE A vies Nye ayy ent vo Se Eala wiry sant sere E tt 1 wae Ws v cf eA 3 bee ds ae oe t teens e esas aid A E a i E gee Na a Fh ea Sik e bye de yy iy heat DE AIR Es EAN EN EVA da AA A las Dae AS poe do U th de A A a OB crn 4 wee ee Ga IH De A A UD oe i Chri Ge Ce ees AA CCI nie SOA Cave wea te y e x a MENR Visto wd E dania N s sy a ay Babee r i Aa ee Haye 5 th bee Cad AAC eer Sane BS Sh hops am Pa a ere A uw 3s LW ratte A Maps fat e de fark ra vir Ky Y CAN AT Sa
59. and assembly field testing examines how the document works as a whole Accessibility navigational problems and consistency are primary areas of concern here In conducting a field test carefully choose field testers and the time to field test run both an in house controlled field test and an external field test and provide feedback to field testers Step 7 Produce and Distribute the Document Once the document is drafted revised and reviewed it is produced in a form suitable for distribution With paper and online publishing mechanisms ranging so widely and 32 multimedia publishing becoming more and more prevalent preparing text via an SGML like tagging system becomes essential e Step 8 Review the Documentation Project Once a document is complete and before beginning a new project analyze what went right and what went wrong during the process of developing the documentation so that improvements to the process can be implemented during the next project and mistakes and problems thereby alleviated e Step 9 Maintain the Document Even when the document is distributed the task is still not completed because the document must be updated To do this effectively responsibility for updating a document should be clearly assigned Distribution of the document should be tracked so that one knows where to send updates and the changes in the updates should be clearly indicated Weiss 1985 describes five phases of user docu
60. anuals IEEE transactions on Professional Communication March 1982 216 219 McGrath Richard A Where s the Manual Preparing and Producing the Software User s Manual Van Nostrand Reinhold Company 1991 123 McNamara John E Local Area Networks Digital Press 1985 Pesante Linda Hutz Integrating Writing into Computer Science Courses SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 23 Number 1 March 1991 205 209 Price Jonathan How to Write a Computer Manual The Benjamin Cummings Publishing Company 1984 Rosenbaum Stephanie and Walters R Dennis Audience Diversity A Major Challenge in Computer Documentation IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference Record IEEE Service Center 1986 Ruben Martin L Documentation Standards and Procedures for Online Systems Van Nostrand Reinhold Company 1979 Rubens Brenda K A Comparison of Hardcopy and Online Tutorials IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference Record IEEE Service Center 1986 Sachs Jonathan Six Leading LANs PC World February 1985 108 Schneiderman Ben Designing the User Interface Strategies for Effective Human Computer Interaction Addison Wesley Publishing Co 1986 358 390 Stimely Gwen L A Stepwise Approach to Developing Software Documentation ACM 1990 122 124 Sullivan Patricia A and Porter James E How Do Writers View Usability Information A Case Study of a Developing Documentation Writer ACM 1990 2
61. ary rewriting Make copies of completed illustrations and insert them in the draft Proofread and correct the draft covering both text and illustrations Send the draft out for review Review and 36 correct online materials Conduct usability tests of tutorials and procedures guides Review link and test online systems Incorporate comments and corrections from the prior review of drafts Read all text and review illustrations checking for flow efaricy and completeness Write quick reference materials Get final okays on changes from reviewers Have quick reference materials reviewed and proofread Check text and illustrations for Consistency and proofread for typographical spelling or placement errors Indicate spaces for illustrations If necessary mark headings words or phrases that need special emphasis and page breaks Review online materials for the final time Correct quick reference materials e Phase IV Production Produce the text by typewriter word processing software or computerized typesetting Proofread the text Make up pages merging text and graphics Check for continuity and positioning of illustrations Number the pages of the document if needed Prepare the table of contents and index Proofread page numbers for the index and table of contents If the document is being professionally printed check the blue line sample of printed document for accuracy consistency and placement of text on pages Prin
62. ase file name in the data panel and press the Shift F2 key Design 2 Select Print Database Structure from the Layout pull down menu 3 Select Begin printing 4 Select Abandon Changes and Exit from the Exit menu to return to the Control Center Printing a Quick Report dBase IV has a quick method of printing out a report of a file s records 1 Move the pointer to the database file name in the Data panel or the view in the Queries panel which you want to print Press Shift F9 The Print box appears 2 With the Begin printing option highlighted press the Enter key Your print job is sent to the network printer Printing Customized Reports 1 Make sure the report format name is highlighted in the appropriate panel of the Control Center and press Enter 2 From the options that appear select Print Report 3 From the Print menu that appears next select either View Report on Screen to see a screen display only or Begin Printing to actually print the text If you select Begin Printing your job is sent to the network printer immediately nels xiting dBase IV 1 Return to the Control Center 2 Press F10 and move to the Exit menu 3 Move the pointer to Quit to DOS and press the Enter key You should be returned to the DOS prompt in the 1DIR menu of the network 4 If you accidentally select Quit to Dot Prompt type QUIT at the dot prompt and press Enter 114 Bibliography Cowart Robert The ABC s of dBASE
63. ation of the computer system on which the users were working generated interest in the users and resolved some of their problems Sullivan and Porter 1990 When users of new software confront a complicated and poorly organized set of reference manuals as their introduction to a piece of software they are apt to regret their introduction On the other hand if they see a Simplified tutorial for the same software they are more likely to forge ahead Brockmann 1990 The tutorial on desktop publishing mentioned previously was developed as a lock step directional guide which maintained a consistent tone style and design throughout Users praised the Simplicity and Ao ae approach particularly early on when they were least confident Eighty percent of the users reported feeling good about what they had learned about the software program indicating that they felt confident enough to try the program on their own in the future Sullivan and Porter 1990 Successful software documentation then leads to successful first encounters with software and hence to greater acceptance and use Brockmann 1990 Most people agree that the quality of documentation for the end user can make the difference between success and failure for a new software product The manuals are what the 18 customer sees first and therefore they shape the perception of the entire package Brockmann 1990 Also research indicates that documentation is the most important
64. atively test their pages and screens with users Prototyping is repeatedly done with a document as it is being developed but it basically has four steps prepare for the test instruct the testers run the test and analyze and apply the results The results of prototyping should give guidelines for depth of coverage vocabulary readability and organization Step 3 Draft the Document Once the specifications have been created approved and tested it is time to draft the document Seven activities make up this step overcoming internal and external writing blocks using a writing style that is designed to match adult reading behaviors using reader based writing techniques developing effective graphics creating reference aids developing the documentation packaging and planning for updates Step 4 Edit the Document Now that the document is drafted it is revised so that it effectively and efficiently gets its message across This is primarily accomplished by using levels of edit techniques Step 5 Review the Document Once the document is Grafted and edited it is sent out for review To have an effective review carefully choose reviewers and the time to review show reviewers how to review and give them feedback Step 6 Field Test the Document A part of every document s review should be a field test of a draft of the whole document Where prototyping examined the pieces of a manual or online document during their creation
65. bs AS sak pebby ts f Wen A i i o e SO FAN AC pee AAN Wyte he E ERICA e LOS BA i E VY OAVKd 200 ESCORIA AS li A kr INEA Ges Asu E IA AN A A ss ot Cae tie i a oq lo ABR PROSA ae e a bi E Cay shale dh e d TES sine dro cb Cs y y C keb oai Lay e PADS cpa A ROL eae E e der RAS TOS Las E a OA O AENA oe ANS bart ee ake Wan lle Fre 6 a t ad Bete Se By UT O IIA i 5 tt ire Es pt A Y e pis AY iM eee cre yi PO A dr A rel YP wep A z p A ay bee qUe ay nn mm AS DPC Aes a Gane iiy Ae ystra ns te PEO nity E y AA Un a woe r y n ih tte Sis gue acttae a A 4 tros gt O wr ei o la 4 E PT te gt ta i is con SEEN meee A Festes a Ss wee aye tz ENS y AD ait A NA A civtal tlw y eric eN keris ay O WARM OA AER oe EAA eT a Shiny te oh a AERA A RN Ren a UG da he AY AO we NE epa RD ib CU ae Bet ve 4 ea A A n AA E E e e LA y A dao e e dea 5 a E Bes at enka as T Ad F GERE AA A a en re mh gi A 4 x E AN a Wee 4 ES DETI 4 ye 6 i tr J A Pah Y as e y i ne i pt e ee a arias spay AAN Shen nie ig iste as CUR K ye Bee ed RN mi lO 1 a A se Si O a A i RE Y Pam a a P f o r sbt e p E 5 hs gt at Ss aa AAA re tee fail DA a ty a AN wth in 3 po ey e te Py PEN 5 xy OS E e a as ae i tar i Ae F a i e a S t i V4 Me 2 it SMS sie at Cy of ay 4i i 1 5 b coh i y3 uA te se s Catv ie CA Pe TT tet ea ps t ra a ey by aos cal Sari HAA tg pes wih tai he gt e PS A et se a OE
66. ce and reference information they need Spear 1984 The template approach developed by Dorothy Walsh in 1969 in which the writers merely fill in set templates with information peculiar to their own system initially appeared to solve problems of content adequacy and organization However it did not have the necessary flexibility of content and organization required to cope with the variability in audiences and purposes Brockmann 1984 Replication of the best procedures used by the best documentation writers rather than simple replication of document content offers a method to prepare comprehensive and accurate documentation which addresses and answers the needs of targeted audiences Using such a structured methodological approach not only aids the developer in organizing the documentation but is also the primary determinant to producing a well developed and useful guide The procedures used to develop the user documentation for applications programs installed in the AS IS computer laboratories are based on the Standard Documentation Process SDP described by R John Brockmann The nine 9 steps involved in the SDP include 1 Develop document specifications 2 Prototype the specification 3 Draft the document 4 Edit the document 5 Review the document 6 Field test the document 7 Produce and distribute the document 8 Review the documentation project 9 Maintain the document F DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIA
67. copying fields Place the cursor in a corner of the area you want to move and press F6 Select If you are moving only a field template press Enter lf you are moving more than a single template use the arrow keys to highlight the entire area that you want to move or copy and then press Enter Press either F7 Move or F8 Copy Move the highlight to the new location and press Enter c Deleting fields Move the cursor to the field template and either press Del or select Remove Field from the Fields menu To delete an entire line including all fields and text move the cursor to the appropriate line and press Ctrl Y d Adding and deleting text To insert text into an existing format position the cursor where you want the new text to appear Make sure that Insert mode is on and then type your text To change existing text position the cursor on the text to be changed and activate Overwrite mode press Ins until the Ins indicator disappears when you type your changes the new characters will replace existing characters To delete text from the format position the cursor on the character you want to delete and press Del You can delete an entire section of text and fields by using the Select key F6 to highlight the area you want to JE JO delete after pressing Enter to complete the selection press Del to delete the entire highlighted block e Adding and deleting lines To insert a new line on a report format position the cursor where
68. cs Engineers Inc 1988 Costa Linda C and Glasgow Mary R Good Software Demands Good Documentation IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference Record IEEE Service Center 1986 Derfler Frank J Jr An Overview of Networking Options PC Magazine December 9 1986 141 Etz D A Standard Development Process for User Publications ACM SIGDOC Conference Proceedings Second International Conference on Systems Documentation The Association for Computing Machinery Inc 1984 Gleason Jim Manual Dexterity What Makes Instructional Manuals Usable IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference Record IEEE Service Center 1986 Glossbrenner Alfred How to Look it up Online St Martin s Press 1987 Grimm Susan J How to Write Computer Documentation for Users Van Nostrand Reinhold Company 1987 Grice Roger A Text Context and Hypertext MIT Press 1988 133 148 Houghton Alico Doann Creating Computer Software User Guides from Manuals to Menus McGraw Hill Inc 1985 Johnson Bob User Centeredness Situatedness and Designing the Media of Computer Documentation ACM 1990 55 60 Krull Robert and Rubens Phillip Online Information Content and Navigation IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference Record IEEE Service Center 1986 Luhn Robert The Organization LAN PC Magazine February 1985 72 Maynard John A User Driven Approach to Better User M
69. ctive efficient way to share applications and other resources However users need to be able to operate the software applications and access shared hardware resources such as printers in this type of environment To meet these demands adequate documentation and training must be available Network training must be directed toward students clerical workers managers and other users of the computers These target audiences have varied levels of computer knowledge and experience and often possess conflicting goals and expectations Often user documentation is developed without regard for the audiences needs Since not all users have the same learning needs or skill levels the documentation may be too technical or too simplistic too specific or too general to be of use Often one all encompassing system documentation is created intended to meet all the information needs of all the system users As a result diverse audiences find the single system manual contains the wrong kinds and levels of information Chinell 19901 This thesis analyzes the functional and design issues associated with the development of software user documentation for one of these audiences the information systems and management students of the Naval Postgraduate School and produces reference guides for two applications software programs WordPerfect 5 1 and dBase IV 1 1 as an end product The study is a report of the developmental process used to design r
70. cumenting a programming language a reference manual may be adequate Generally speaking no one category of documentation can please all types of users Williams and Beason 1991 For the purposes of this study task oriented procedures guides also called a user s guides were selected for production based on the audience analysis and limited budget and schedule and because effective complete online documentation was already available via the online HELP features offered by both WordPerfect 5 1 and dBase IV 1 1 C DESIGN ISSUES Normally the first exposure a new user will have to a system is through user s manuals Careful planning must be devoted to the design of documentation since inadequate design results in end user dissatisfaction Readers only use documentation to get their job completed when it requires some kind of computer assistance Thus the best design for software documentation is the one that fits the users methods of working and requires the least attention and learning In designing the user s guides for the AS IS Computer Labs the researcher focused on organization content layout and language It is thought that these elements are the four 41 factors that most impact the effectiveness of the documentation design Gleason 1986 1 Organization Widely used in the industry until recently a software internals orientation approach to documentation design concentrated on the structure and facilities
71. cuments indexes lists tables of authorities and tables of contents Designates a field from the secondary file to be merged in the primary file Performs a merge of data stored in lists in a secondary document into the appropriate places in a primary document Allows you to move copy or delete a sentence paragraph or page You can then move to another place in the document and retrieve the text Allows you to print a document or page Also allows other functions such as view document Allows you to select any sequence of characters or codes and globally change it to something else Retrieves a document on disk or the last text that was cut or copied Splits the screen and allows you to see the hidden codes which instruct the printer on how to format text and graphics in the document Saves a document on disk under the name you assign Allows you to draw straight lines and boxes in the document turn off on automatic screen writing and split the document screen into two windows Locates the next occurrence in the document of specified text or formatting codes Performs a backward reverse search 7I Setup Shell Spell Style Switch Tab Align Text In Out Thesaurus Underline Shift F 1 Ctrl F1 Ctrl F2 Alt F8 Shift F3 Ctrl F6 Ctrl F5 Alt F1 F8 Sequential F Key Listin ALT TTS lt Key gt Cancel gt Search Allows you to change many of WordPerfect
72. d or used in only one way such as the spell checker software the more appropriate manual presentation would likely be a tutorial This is especially true since tutorials tend to limit the users conceptions of the uses of the software because of the specificity of directions and examples This may not be desirable for open ended software packages External documentation is meant for audiences outside the corporate or organizational environment in which the documentation is developed It is usually a more expensive professional product being a marketing tool as well as an operations tool It is usually attractively packaged and filled with graphics Brockmann 1990 Internal documentation is developed by an organization to be used by people within that same organization It makes up the bulk of all documentation yet it frequently fails to receive the necessary time money and attention because it is used only inside an organization and is not part of a product to be marketed Thus it is not directly related to profit making Also internal documentation is not as well designed as external documentation because the writers usually do not seek or receive as much feedback Brockmann 1990 However 21 an internal manual that is targeted to a specific audience could be superior to a generalized external manual with respect to relevance simplicity and brevity E PROBLEMS WITH SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION There can be many proble
73. dditions and deletions search for records with a variety of search criteria sort data into multiple formats print mailing labels generate reports and if you work with numerical data perform various mathematical computations This guide is designed to familiarize the beginning user of dBase IV with a few of the program s basic operations More comprehensive treatments are available which cover more of the many features dBase IV offers Like other applications the dBase IV program is stored on the file server hard disk in its own subdirectory Database files which you create and work with should be stored on your floppy disk or a class subdirectory which your instructor will explain dBase IV stores information in database files which consist of records or rows Each record is divided into separate fields or columns Figure 2 depicts a dBase IV database file containing names and addresses Forms such as the most basic Edit screen are used to gather information on the computer screen and that information is stored in the database file Reports are derived from the information in the database and can be printed in the format you specify on O your computer screen or printer dBase IV cot can also pull together information from separate database files into a single Name FNamo Address Ciy zp printed report In managing a database Jonos Edward 123 First St Monwroy 93940 you execute a few basic tasks Smith May 321 A Ave Sainas 990
74. defined here To Delete lt Key Sequence gt Character by character Backspace deletes to left of cursor Delete lt Del gt deletes character or space the cursor is on Word by word Ctrl Backspace Several words Escape lt Esc gt n n number of words to the left of the cursor Ctrl Backspace From the left of the cursor Home Backspace to the beginning of a word From the cursor right to the Home Del end of a word including the ending space To the end of a line Ctrl End To the end of a page Ctrl PgDn A sentence Ctrl F4 S D A paragraph Ctri F4 P D A page Ctri F4 A D Undeleting Text 68 WordPerfect 5 1 can restore any of the last three deletions at the cursor s position lf WordPerfect is not carrying out a command the Cancel key lt F1 gt functions as the Undelete key The following prompt appears along with the most recently deleted text Undelete 1 Restore 2 Previous Deletion O Choosing Restore lt 1 gt or lt H gt restores the displayed text to your document choosing Previous Deletion lt 2 gt or lt P gt displays the text that was deleted prior to that deletion The last three deletions can be displayed and restored After the third most recently deleted text is displayed selecting Previous Deletion displays the first deletion again Selecting Restore restores the displayed deletion to your document Using the Typeover Feature With the Typeover feature you can enter replace existing text w
75. der is 26 expected to be passive and just follow along these two paradoxes can become problematic Brockmann 1990 Natural egoism is the final factor that can adversely affect documentation A writer will not be effective until he she is able to empathize with the readers and recognize that the readers approach software documentation with different backgrounds expectations training and education Brockmann 1990 G SURVEY FINDINGS REGARDING PAPER DOCUMENTATION Table 1 summarizes the common recurring findings of the four marketing surveys described in this section Major Consistent Xerox AT amp T Microsoft PC User Findings for Control Group Paper Data 1986 Borland Wilton Documentation Scientific 1984 1985 Maynard 1982 More task cias More More tutoriams S Improved reference aids IS ai More illustrations Table 1 Recurring findings in user surveys of paper documentation The 15 year survey of users carried out by Xerox Control Data and Scientific Data Systems Maynard 1982 and a 27 parallel survey carried out with military users Beard and Callamars 1983 showed the major complaints to be e Manuals were software oriented rather than function oriented e Manuals did not have enough examples e Manuals did not have enough reference aids An independent market research firm conducted an external documentation market survey for AT amp T in 1986 The survey identified feat
76. dy Va in at Ct 1 6 va hoe ry 1a AL Ch ae ry pd ah a y e 4 ake E X vel E eS AA anki 2 Miso ky G hice A cic in A c ave A re Searles ick a ueno ete Bi a A Sa HERA AEAN ene OER Raw E ys A e e IO Y ta A s X ra qe A A ja a m7 Y NERUDA Lae wah ky it ss NA 0 ear sat iss 408 AN s We ye BS A O AR AO A 1 ae Se A Ses Sia aot estat se y N patna ATA f AS a A a gn A LLE EE 0 9 oh 80 Y 27 dl She 5 e RS A EE N as 8 SL ie net Breen Bese As y art i AR ig RATOS sf Si ah A SR IS 3 ys le dni be hha ye K A E IAS ON TT yr CO A a a ES e t i zi ave fou H ERE war SE A RNIN a wk gt es ahs YS NN m n ELA shy AN 3 JOY Un EN Ati gt H pl LA o H 8 a fi e Ste x rece see Sea E igh ay td Pit us o 8 Xie E eS ance ee A Ty AENA KIN x 0 ak yen an Nw ESA eS EN yank Ze s Safe se Ho na ye i s es rar s aT S ad A M a 4 4 A AS KRANE Parks INRY yas a w A oe rie A WN COHEN eet eG bikes be APTOS OIL at o ot LL tha take hte ss gt here ES vo qe WaN aa ER EAA E phy Du b AA AT e rte eke wie sry Same tous gt de te pe Hast an Bee os Sa sts rae d OO Ads A 29 4 i A ot Sees AACE Lae OE CR SES SEALE EUR A CUE Tae a VA ea oy 0 1 lor wl pi Rua z A EAS ESTA a Np N w A s i 5 y ta 3 s coh tee core eee ret aaa ANS Na tee Se eRe T ROR s ORR AART nA oi Y ey 4 Se Me shy ee trae apt ms i 1 PAHO de 4 j x sy yije EVAN AN nee AA A gt A E de y Blinc ret ne Aia al Hon tree
77. e ase 4 gt a IT O y EN oe i sets Fe y i at een bd y r i a a8 5 3 n BS 0 IPR it 17 hing A i n ed G eet t Ags Heh bid penne f e wal ae an RA Oo ihe e jo eee e ced RER PN E AR PE S i T u AUN dE rae 5 ARO E ERAS dt se aoe i ve sd M 5 gt ts 1 a AO A i ese Gee 7 PARAR y n as AOS ears paar Savi vy Aare ee ar n veg o ae R a A ENS el nd ne E Aa t LP lt ve e i al tos Hoga Be 2 gt H r di y E Es E Dee Oa ee relay fa a nae sit eee F hes i weg re x ai t z e A A E gt gt 4 an pay his io y 2 TNA ADA a i vag oF A t t Z oor S 1 4 j 5 E 4 SE 4 2 mts Y so Bis OF ee i Voy P RAN P E As cane en er PY te r t fog an e fe nr ie i AA are v S SS 2 A a y O o Ae rie EAS i ive fi e pi 3 go E Kra A ae see de wee oe bated ace eich CAI eI Aap i uiid is T O a ra O E a y lee a iy ne edit Eig l SREP ae eae a iat ere ME ia IO rr 4 A Ay st ler igh og i a a Wa 47 y ye nP ae ue as s i fe a iust y sii 4 i d Wt PEA a ee pr neo Se PATT yp ae gras onee a a er 6 Pin Ge Udon A nF 4 AO 4 LES Hi i gt AN SE rhe se f naus s h O gt i re den bee LED A Y A 4 A 5 a ah leher by 4 oes da gt AS AS A e at tai by EDA MIIN gada ety sf y 5 ve a fo a ates s Vase vp as Pts j he ew Y N j F n tod 1 lt a re SN y 4 asf doy Sa 5 zi 3 y E eer E i N da t B 1 ee at 5 1372 Tea A i OA a T E S gt rape i e ON IN BOSE O a AE PU
78. e ee ndo rare a A en yA ar ASN ig sek Ka eek erg ripia MA h ARA e v A as RO A E A E NA ay br A 5 UM Sy Sees ae soy E T TN peta Shiau sete a Tot fae din tem s a 5 9 J ah ayi AAA s ae y x a k y A Sie J A A Cae AA ANS A a y rd oti a E ee men es see sige a amp y a Me laces vo dd a aia Mn Aye Nan As a ps OS A pal 7 LAFA TAD w i0 e abs nah A ed yer er ire O E A ah Waat NEA ALEA o al AS a sake ey A cate ret hae H x we 5 N s ta Re AAA A A 4 te AE AR h RU W 24 h an ES 20 ya AA ES he See iN re sae be K oh See e AO niet RE Tick oie Mee eset AA Mea ye de y 4 ew i 5 P A i q th gt e Asc TH a MF Gi TE A a s hey ty any iMya yt Peru ARA y Us inva ty K ah Ak Rese y ERA A X ta E MS a ue B A pa Oke VE PLA PL EA ee a A Pi aat W KOR sae A a apa oe etre SR si EET OCT Ai ES Tn A ats 13 A fa papel erty hae a pean de 4 AAF a qe apjat wes tS ayy a taa DAR 5 LA hafe Ry ny eee AR See estes y Fg o tay Ip es gt a Do a wage YY she mE caine x ins SE 4 a e eN yi y Phe She YAN 4 KE 7 ne 14D ovata hehe Vn A ua hr UP u a be al rus da of ay LES G y Ay a h ARCE ier bh gara e rS o NO an HN AA RE aa Weed PAAA aT Ay y qu e anda a paro da gt 8 A A I g ih ey a dotes Ne ARMS TAU SY ein alae O 2 ws ya y 1 a H tA ha Rab avant ye Wy me ay s age os he r mn r r LEG und Y an Wi a veh ml AN E tia e RA dida 390 O a Ao TS RI ca ds AL DIN Raa ue Ree RS A 3
79. e students but a variation in age from mid twenties to mid forties is expected e Reasons for using the program Students are expected to use the WordPerfect program to create reports and research papers in some cases to complete an introductory course in WordPerfect 5 1 and to use the program in a variety of courses They are expected to use dBase IV for introductory courses in database management and dBase IV As the students progress in their curriculums and become more familiar with the applications programs especially WordPerfect they will grow from novice or wherever they 49 Started on the scale of experience with the programs to intermediate users who then become experienced users and so on Thus what pleases them in the beginning may not always please them six months down the road Also as they progress the more experienced users are graduating and leaving and new students are arriving Thus a varied audience is guaranteed No single user s guide will be able to fill every student s needs 50 IV THE SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION TEST PLAN A TEST PURPOSE The best type of review of a user manual comes from the users themselves This step is referred to as field testing by Brockmann 1990 and usability testing by Williams and Beason 1991 In field or usability testing the users of the documentation try using a document to see if it is effective and can stand alone Testing helps provide information on
80. ears from the status line Deleting Marked Records When you delete records from the database file dBase IV shifts the remaining records to occupy the space on the disk made vacant by the deleted records This process is referred to as packing the database 1 From Control Center screen press Shift F2 The Database Design screen appears and the Organize menu pops down 102 2 Move the pointer to Erase marked records Press Enter 3 A box pops out with the question Are you sure you want to erase all marked records Select Yes and the database is packed You are returned to the Database Design screen The records have been deleted from the database 4 To exit press the F10 key move to the Exit menu and press the Enter key orting a Database To sort the information in your database in a useful order such as alphabetically or zip code order dBase IV offers two methods The fastest and most efficient method is by indexing The second way is to make a sorted copy of a database file This guide will only cover the first method indexing Indexing A dBase IV index is a sorted list of items in a database file When you activate the index dBase automatically displays the records in the sort order specified by the index The actual records in the database are still in their original order the index just tells dBase the order in which to display information on the screen or printer Also dBase can use the index to quickly loca
81. ecentralized environment institutional factors may still prevent them from producing effective computer documentation First training and education are lacking in many organizations Second company standards which support and enhance good effective documentation often do not exist Similarly if examples of documentation formally presented in standard development methodologies or informally circulated in an office are not examples of good documentation training and official company standards may go for naught Finally good effective technological support of the documentation effort enhances the likelihood of good documentation The various iterations of a document should be completed as faultlessly and as quickly as possible Speed of production is crucial because good documentation is the result of continuous ree ence The longer and more laborious the process the less inclined documenters will be to redraft and rewrite Hence the more powerful the tools that are put in the hands of the documentation developers the better the final document will be Underlying these institutional factors are management support and encouragement Good or bad documentation and the climate producing either are largely a function of management Brockmann 1990 To write an effective piece of computer documentation a writer needs full and complete information on the design of the system or the program Without a solid foundation of 24 complete clear a
82. ed by a common cable A LAN is designed to interconnect microcomputers terminals minicomputers and other hardware for the purpose of communicating among themselves and alternately with a host mainframe computer or public network The most common reason for developing a LAN is resource sharing Networks allow the sharing of peripheral devices such as hard drives printers and scanners Application programs such as spreadsheets word processing and communication packages can be shared so that multiple copies are not necessary Databases can also be shared in such a way that multiple microcomputers can have access to a single database This capacity for sharing hardware and software resources allows greater flexibility and cost savings in the use of expensive computer peripherals and software The basic components of a LAN are the server computer the user computer s and the interconnecting cabling system The server is usually a microcomputer that is specifically designated to act as the network server The server performs only those functions required of a network server it can only be accessed by users through their user computers Server functions include repository of software programs network management printer and other peripheral device management and database repository The user computer is normally a microcomputer or terminal and is connected to the server by a cabling system A simplified schematic of a typical connection is sh
83. eference guides for applications software used in the Administrative Sciences Information Systems computer networks at the Naval Postgraduate School B OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this project was to develop software user documentation for two applications programs resident in the networks excluding the Apple networks in the Administrative Sciences and Information Systems computer laboratories which would be used and understood by users of these laboratories C THE RESEARCH QUESTION What is the most effective method for development of software documentation which will promote maximized use and enable greater productivity f the Administrative Sciences Information Systems AS IS computer laboratories for Naval Postgraduate management and information systems students D SCOPE The many problems associated with designing user documentation are the variables upon which this paper focuses The intent of this study was to investigate the variables needed to produce effective software documentation for users of the AS IS laboratories These variables were tested to determine their effectiveness and modifications then made based on users needs and recommendations 1 Audience Description These reference guides were designed to address an audience that represents an older than average ege graduate student Most of these students have been trained in some technical or managerial area in which they have been working for a
84. eld and enter the filter condition in the field box and then press F2 Data to see the results If the Edit screen appears press F2 again to switch to the Browse screen You can remove filter conditions using the file skeleton s navigation and editing keys Saving a Query for Future Use 1 At the Query Design screen after creating and testing the query using F2 highlight the Layout option in the menu bar and select Edit Description of Query When prompted type a description and press Enter 2 Select Save This Query from the Layout menu or Save Changes and Exit from the Exit menu When dBase displays the prompt Save as enter a valid DOS file name and press Enter dBase will automatically add the extension QBE to the file name you provide Activating a Saved Query 1 At the Control Center highlight the name of the query in the Queries panel and press F2 2 Three options will be displayed Use View Modify Query and Display Data Selecting Display Data activates the view and takes you to the Edit or Browse screen Selecting Use View puts the view name above the line in the Queries panel 3 When finished select Exit from the Exit pull down menu to return to the Control Center The view name will be above the line in the Queries panel indicating that it is still active Changing a Query 1 Highlight its name in the Queries panel and press Shift F2 Design 2 Modify the query using the same techniques used to create qu
85. eries You can see the results by pressing F2 Data Return to the Query Design screen by pressing Shift F2 Design 3 When finished select Save Changes and Exit from the Exit pull down menu to return to the Control Center The query name will still be accessible Deactivating a Query 108 You must deactivate a query to remove its effect on your view of the associated database Simply opening the database file deactivates the query Highlight the database name in the Data panel and press F2 Data eports Creating a Custom Report Only basic procedures for creating a customized report are included here There are many more features of dBase IV not covered that you may want to look into to create a report that fits your specific needs 1 Ensure that the database is currently in use and from the Control Center highlight lt create gt in the Reports panel and press Enter The Reports Design screen appears The ruler just beneath the menu bar on the Reports Design screen shows margins and tab stops The center of the screen is divided into five bands Each band corresponds to a section of the printed report Anything that you place within a band is printed only in the corresponding section of the report The five bands are as follows a Page header printed once at the top of each page b Report intro printed once at the beginning of the report c Detail the body of the report Typically this section displays records from
86. ering and editing data but are not covered in this guide You can move from field to field using the following keys which are useful in the Browse screen also KEY EFFECT Enter Completes entry and moves to next field Arrow Left Moves the cursor left or right one character Right Arrow Up Moves the cursor up or down Down PgUp PgDn Moves up or down one record on Edit screen or one screenful on Browse screen 98 Home Ctrl Home End Ctrl End Tab Shift Tab ins Backspace Del F1 Help F2 Data F3 Prev F4 Next F10 Menu Ctri Y Shift F8 Ditto Esc Moves to first filed on Browse screen or first character tn current field on Edit screen Moves from a memo field marker into an editing window to add or change a memo Moves to last field on Browse screen or end of current field on Edit screen Saves changes and exits to previously used screen Moves to next field or indents paragraph in word wrap editor Moves to previous field or outdents paragraph in word wrap editor Switches between Insert and Overwrite modes Moves left one character erasing along the way Deletes one character over cursor Displays help Toggles between Browse and Edit screens Scrolls back to previous field Scrolls to next field Accesses pull down menus Deletes all characters to right of cursor Carries data from same field in previous record to current record Leaves current screen without saving changes to last edited
87. es ae ieee n hoe CR Ca EMAC eine st ba ie SEE Ra LO AE gy BPM med King Atte gt f LY stag i And we Pe Ye Pare if MOTO TA y i A Lp e i Ye y a B IN E e t pai i adie des AS Pl ay Lee ete Sire ih i E wrt pitt ARS be ENS AA KA DE Es o e ge ee e pe are A 4 y o s J E a e A Er A MN PS a i nie ERE ai Beas DEIN E ae DESS a oF IRE Re ce ETA AA e a AA Si fe eae Th PEY fn ne ae an ee J EE ECN re e sede NES ee ee At e ae OS ee ee fs a A ft ae ae ere 5 e a er ee ene bie ist ei Yi Es e b A et X J ae RY ii qa e te y The 4 te t 4 F 4 pe A fie Zi tee RA Ery ae ifi PON ene BEGE ALS CIA 2 Rieger es acs ate Yee e A le OCR ht a ase eis ES te H AE MS WES ui e tes ony Y arras NA PANA JR AR IA A O i i eer ce UR A CA stf oe tie lr Se 5 He t A A NS AS IA IA Pee OG te AS Ses wee EN pe yr tt bs TNA i ARFA agit E ie ee we ARA e hy ho A wes PRO A RUN y DC k ik Kaas ee A A P ake ck pa a e t ye e A Pad e hi pe it ae ae tae Agi 9 O A Ris ste BE ete wki ee PRIN EER ERD RE cram REST EE Dock URS e E o Wy Dg gee ae See taut a Mela Ey ELIAS Y x Ratt ees y A area Sere ee aah erg hye heb ol i 25 8 NN a A A f f ea ie 1 ale EN gts VAN ene Reeth es fre meee SI A a a E sh wt x Ay K ot 7 RE pa om lt att sy ole aug ar PO A x Y 5 as J r A AS ti f mae aan oneg os Spt ASD Tate ee Ras SeN ie f ae es A 53 ae ier Es y s RA IX Ko a ot i giant A i e K Di oy A ey E L
88. esent the smallest possible obstacle to learners efforts by providing less overt training structure Carroll 1990 The minimalist design tips used in creating the user s guides in Appendix B and C include Brockmann 950 e Minimize secondary features of manuals and online documents overviews introductions summaries etc e Focus on what readers need to know to immediately apply it to productive work e Make it easy for the reader of a page to coordinate the documentation with the screen information by grouping instructions and cursor movement navigation key tables together by the screen to which they apply e Use what the readers already know by continuously linking new information to it The DDP exhorts designers to organize the guide and group procedures to reflect the way users will use the program such as listing the procedures for entering information before listing the procedures for editing that information Additionally designers should include all the information needed to successfully complete each procedure Additionally each procedure module should be organized internally so the modules will be consistent Williams and Beason 1991 In the user s guides appended to this paper for example each procedure module contains a heading name of 44 procedure brief introductory paragraph and numbered steps of the procedure Brockmann 1990 lists two primary principles of organization both of which were fol
89. est plan and results and the fifth chapter draws this report together with conclusions and some practical recommendations for developing and maintaining software user documentation as contained in Appendixes B and C Appendix A is a matrix of software programs installed on the server computers of the networks in the AS IS Computer Laboratories Appendix B is a basic users guide for WordPerfect 5 1 and Appendix C is a basic users guide for dBase IV 1 1 10 II LITERATURE REVIEW OF USER DOCUMENTATION DEVELOPMENT A OVERVIEW OF SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION FOR USERS The field of computer documentation is moving and changing quite rapidly as some of the finest minds in the professions and in academia turn to it as a field of study and research The industry already has moved beyond merely paper manuals It is in moving beyond paper that today s writers of paper user manuals will be able to enter the next century with manual less software in common use Manual less software was the objective of the Apple Computer s Macintosh project Although they didn t fully succeed in being manual less the direction in the software industry is to take much of the paper documentation and make it either superfluous because of improved interface design or put it online using such new organizational devices as hypertext Manual less software will become bossa as contemporary culture increases its intuitive knowledge and sophistication concerning compute
90. fly After that initial start up screen you will be presented with the document screen On it a default status line indicates the document window you are in in WordPerfect you can work on two documents at the same time as well as the current page line and honzontal cursor position The cursor always starts out in the upper left corner WordPerfect always starts you off in document 1 on page 1 and with top bottom left and right margins of 1 inch You issue commands to WordPerfect by pressing the function keys at the top or left of your keyboard either alone or in combination with the lt Ctrl gt lt Shift gt and lt Alt gt keys To see the formatting codes that are being used in your document you press Reveal Codes lt Alt F3 gt You close this Reveal Codes window by pressing lt Alt F3 gt again Note lt Alt F3 gt is also an example of a combination keystroke It is done by first pressing the lt Alt gt key and while the lt Alt gt key is held down pressing the lt F3 gt key All combination keystrokes are done in this manner tarting WordPerfect 1 Turn on your computer and log onto the network follow the instructions provided at your computer You will see for the various applications available on the network the 1DIR menu with the batch file listings files with BAT extensions that execute appiication programs 64 2 Using the Arrow Down key move the select bar to the WP51 BAT file and press the lt ENTER
91. g fields Deletes the current field Saves changes and exits the Database Design screen Transfer to Query Design screen Exits without saving changes and returns to previous screen 9 Saving the Database Structure 1 From the Database Design screen pull down the Layout menu by pressing the F10 key 2 Move the pointer to Save this database file structure Press the Enter key The Save as box appears 3 Type in the name of your database file dBase IV will add the file extension DBF to each database file and press Enter The database file structure is now saved ready to be filled with the actual data for each record 4 To exit the Database Design screen and return to the Control Center press the F10 key The Layout menu pops down again but displays different options this time 5 Press the Arrow Right key to move the pointer to Exit Notice how each menu box pops down as the pointer moves from one menu item to another 6 At the Exit menu the pointer should be on the Save changes and exit option Press the Enter key You are returned to the Control Center wW orking with the Database Placing information in your database files begins with creating records and entering data into the fields from the Edit screen The records can also be edited on the Edit screen The Edit screen looks like a blank form for a single record and is useful when you want to concentrate on one record at a time custom forms can be created for ent
92. he AS IS Computer Labs and who also wrote a software user document for one of the applications installed on the AS IS networks Step 5 The tests were conducted in one of the AS IS Computer Labs on the Token Ring network in I 224 All resources needed for the testing computers printers programs desks etc were already set up The tests were conducted on two consecutive weekends when the labs were available and mostly empty Step 6 Sufficient copies of the user s guides were available for each testing subject RESULTS AND FINDINGS The results of the usability tests focused primarily on user s guides usefulness success and shortcomings The primary benefit of the tests were in the improvements to the document Participants identified the following types of e Trors typographical errors factual mistakes confusing layout and format 53 Improvements to the manual were indeed beneficial The tests helped to refine the design of poorly composed sections of the user s guides After observing the subjects and receiving their remarks upon completion of each of the tests the guides were corrected and reformatted The information gathered as a result of the testing does not signify conclusive results due to lack of rigor of the test methodology Zirinsky 1986 However the information was extremely useful in guiding the revision of the document design The user s guides presented in Appendixes B and C are only
93. he Edit screen appears press F2 again The records are listed down the screen and field columns are displayed across the screen If you see only one record press the PgUp key to pull other records into view Note You may not see all the fields at once Use the Tab key to view hidden columns Marking Records for Deletion Before you delete a record it must be marked for deletion From the Browse screen you can mark one or more records at a time using either of two different methods Method one 101 1 Move the pointer to the first field of the record to be deleted and press F10 The Records menu appears 2 Move the pointer to the Mark record for deletion option and press the Enter key 3 The record is now marked Notice the Del at the right end of the status line Method two 1 From the Browse screen move the pointer to the record to be deleted then press Ctri U 2 The record is now marked and Del is displayed on the status line Unmarking a Record for Deletion There are two methods to unmark a record for deletion Method one 1 Place the pointer on the marked record and press the F10 key The Records menu appears 2 Move the pointer to the Clear deletion mark option and press the Enter key 3 The Del on the status line disappears indicating the record is no longer marked for deletion Method two 1 Move the pointer to the record to be unmarked then press Ctrl U 2 The record is now unmarked and Del disapp
94. igners are faced with the dilemma of trying to create user friendly interfaces for these new systems while educators must find ways of teaching complicated information to potential users The materialization of these problems has led to much attention being paid recently to the field of user interface design No longer is it important to just design systems that meet the market demand but systems must be designed and presented so that it is alluring to the user As such the human factors issue plays an enormous role in the design of new computer systems Along with the emergence of new systems software that takes advantage of advanced technology must also be written and documented When carefully developed documentation can be used as a supplemental effort to ease the transition and enhance the relationship between user and machine Schneiderman 1986 Another contributor to the dilemma created by new computer production is the system comprehension issue As hardware becomes more complex technical manuals have become increasingly voluminous to accommodate pertinent facts While enormous amounts of this information become available more efficient ways of absorbing its content must be developed Newly developed teaching aids must now encompass the technical sophistication of computer systems in addition to addressing the human computer interface issues Bradford 1983 Also training must address a more diverse audience that is not only
95. ion However on the Token Ring network in l 224 three computers TN12 TN15 and TN23 will not allow you view without a few extra steps that s because WordPerfect is preset for EGA monitors whereas these three stations have CGA monitors For instructions see the footnote l To be able to view your document from TN12 TN15 or TN23 on the Token Ring network in I 224 you need to reset the default monitor selection by following these steps 1 Press lt Shift F1 gt Setup 2 Select lt 2 gt Display continued next page 13 1 Put the cursor on the page you want to view 2 Press lt Shift F7 gt Print and select lt 6 gt or lt V gt for View document 3 Press lt 1 gt 100 to view the document at its actual size press lt 2 gt 200 to view at twice its actual size press lt 3 gt Full Page to view the whole page at once press lt 4 gt Facing Pages to view the current page and its facing page even numbered pages are shown on the left odd numbered pages on the right 4 Press lt PgUp gt or lt PgDn gt or lt Ctrl Home gt GoTo to view other pages in the document 5 Press lt F7 gt Exit to return to the document screen aving a Document Once you create or modify your document you will want to save it on your floppy diskette You can save the document either while you are still working on it or when you are finished with and are ready to exit WordPerfect It is however a very good idea to
96. is eee Gare e oS ra ee Pisa ee eo BV oe RISA ESSE ANA k Pan ES fairs a IR 2 aan a eN e E a eya P ME SERES ie IA ts A ds ae n ya as ISE ER oe Aa ys k s a is ee AGE A oe as APARATOS y wt E Sosy i ee eee a S Ky AS KURI SOR O ee ats he in i E Ens g XR 7 A 4 857 ener A P y i n s ww X y 7 Fate UN ts Lived 5 oe Ene RON EN Rh fy SEN KERN GORE EIERE ANS i 4 e A gt et rey HRIH ERRE Ag ae RON PRAM yal ety yak aston A NP A gt ees See aes ae ARES BESOIN ay sg of Me bat a na KANON Sey VEAS i RAA ae i e ete yar Santas eter yh el aed Gr DAN Aes in ae NS FSR HR AAA a A ps 2 y 1 SIS pti 4 a ES i A t CA usa Beara FIS j 39 ant Winey wS RRRS Fafa ri t A A i i fa peng AA SoA he ee BARKER es NO ERA A rd GORI O ee x ERU Sa EN a ADA OLEA PENES MN O HAS os y e i y re e vet i B TO A eee 23 ANUA A ER is y y SN pa ER sA i w a A RH a e ED E i BS AD eat PAK AU A Cone arses ne REE shee NA Bs tac y 2 Het e Na y 4 Cat o A y rt a qe os i wt Sh Lei he f i A A o DEA 4 calls i E y Sy e ED DA Pat re des sai a atte A y my hig te de ide Kets ya EX e 3 a at y ESE Sine pis Vie chad A br Ade led mi EUA AWN WR t t Uae Ary ES AR eee C a e Sarias f A A ak pa Ne ae ey Bets es BE Pg NRS F URA POLA SE ea X 4 KN x A ES i JESA T NRY gs Ms APRS Wh Or cy pt as AA AA aS i SHENI Si N AE be et less x a Ec HAS sees ASA pa ret E EA ERA E d Ka rey i
97. ithout pushing the rest of the sentence to the right Press the Insert lt Ins gt key until the Typeover prompt appears in the lower left corner of your screen The nsert mode is now off unction Keys The function keys are listed here alphabetically and sequentially by F key Alphabetical Listing Function lt Key Sequence gt Brief Description Block Alt F4 Defines a block of text on which you can then perform any number of operations Bold F6 Prints selected text in boldface or doublestrike Cancel F1 Terminates almost any command being carried out Undelete Restores up to three previous deletions Center Shift F6 Centers text on a line between left amp right margins Columns Alt F7 Format your text using columns create tables Tables Date Shift F5 inserts the current date as text or code create an Outline outline of your document End Field F9 End of field code in a record used in merging 69 Exit Flush Right Font Footnote Format GoTo Graphics Hard Page Help indent Indent List Macro Macro Define F7 Alt F6 Ctri F8 Ctrl F7 Shift F8 Ctrl Home Alt F9 Ctrl ENTER F3 F4 Shift F4 FS Alt F10 Ctrl F10 Quits WordPerfect or current screen Aligns your text flush with the right margin setting Allows you to change the size or appearance of the current fonts used in your document Allows you to add footnotes that appear at the bottom of the page or endnotes
98. ively 3 The lt Page Up gt and lt Page Down gt keys will move you to the beginning of the previous or the next PAGE respectively 4 The Minus key lt gt on the right side of your keyboard adjacent to the numeric keypad moves the cursor to the top of the SCREEN and the Plus key lt gt next to the numeric keypad moves the cursor to the bottom of the SCREEN 5 Other cursor movement techniques are as follows To Move lt Key Sequence gt To the beginning of a line Home Home Arrow Left To the left edge of screen Home Arrow Left To the end of a line End or Home Arrow Right To cursor s prior position Ctrl Home Ctrl Home To the top of the page Ctrl Home Arrow Up To the bottom of the page Ctrl Home Arrow Down To a specified page Go To Ctrl Home page number ENTER To the top of the document Home Home Arrow Up To the end of the document Home Home Arrow Down Inserting Text into Your Document Editing a document often requires adding new text WordPerfect starts off in the default Insert mode If you see the word Typeover in the lower left corner of your 67 screen press the Insert lt Ins gt key located on the right side of your keyboard to return to the Insert mode 1 Position the cursor at the spot where you want to insert text 2 Press the lt Arrow Down gt key and WordPerfect will adjust the text to the correct margins Deleting Text WordPerfect has many ways of deleting text many of which are
99. jects as having nine phases These nine phases somewhat Table 3 User Documentation in the Software Development 2 Requi Alte Analy Process Williams and Beason 1991 Phase User Documentation 1 Feasibility Analysis rement s Definition 3 rnatives sis 4 Functional Specifications 5 Preliminary Documentation plan Design 6 Detailed Design Outline s for user documentation and Construction First draft s of users manual s First draft s of online help systen 7 Verification Reviews of first drafts alpha and beta tests Usability tests of tutorials and procedures guides Review linking and testing of online systems Final draft s of users manual s Wirst and final drafts of quick reference pieces 8 Implementation User documentation completed 9 Maintenance Revisions and addenda correlate with the seven phases of the Standard Software Development process from the IEEE Software Engineering 35 Standards reference 1990 Concept Requirements Design Implementation Testing Installation and Checkout and Operation and Maintenance According to Williams and Beason the user documentation development process begins during phase five of a software development project and continues throughout the remainder of the life cycle of the project Table 3 shows how Williams and Beason 1991 believe user documentation fits into the overall software development process As you can see
100. k provided automatically captures a printer port for your workstation when you log in thereby ensuring that print jobs go to the file server queue and subsequently print on network printers You do not have to manually select a port 1 Press the Print key lt Shift F7 gt WordPerfect presents you with a Print menu 2 Press the lt 1 gt or lt F gt to print the entire document the cursor may be placed anywhere in the document to print the whole document or the lt 2 gt or lt P gt to print one page it will print the page the cursor is on at the time You are returned to your document screen and the print job goes to the file server print queue where it waits its turn to be printed A separator page with the network operating system s name your login name and the print job number will be printed first so you can identify your print job 3 To print a block of text from the screen move the cursor to the first character of the block you want to print press lt Alt F4 gt Block The message Block flashes in the lower left corner of the screen 4 Move the cursor to the character space immediately after the last character of the block of text you want to print Press lt Shift F7 gt Print 5 Press lt Y gt for yes to the prompt Print block No Yes Viewing You can view the document pages as they will appear when printed on paper including graphics footnotes page numbers line numbers headers footers and justificat
101. lds of related data are grouped together to create a record Records are compiled into a database file and related database files are organized into a catalog Creating a Catalog A catalog name is a DOS filename of up to eight letters or numbers An extension is not included because dBase IV assigns the extension CAT to all catalogs 94 1 To open the Catalog menu press F10 the Menu key The pointer moves to Catalog on the menu line and the Catalog menu drops down 2 The pointer is on the Use a different catalog option Press the Enter key The Catalog box appears in the upper right corner of the screen You may see a list of previously created catalogs You may select one of these and press Enter to display a list of that catalog s files or 3 Place the pointer on lt create gt and press the Enter key to create a new catalog 4 Type the name of your new catalog and press Enter You are returned to the Control Center where the new catalog name will appear in the catalog line Defining Data Fields A data field contains one specific item of data The Database Design screen is where you define each field in your database structure i The pointer should be positioned on lt create gt in the Data panel Press the Enter key The Database Design screen appears Notice the message and navigation lines at the bottom of the screen dBase is prompting you to enter the first field name Also a new line of highlighted informati
102. lity of the documentation efforts Training written instructions and the human computer interface are all affected by the quality of the documentation Bailey 1983 14 During the early years of Defensive computers in the 1950s the Programming Effective standard approach to making Documentation computer systems understandable was the users own trial and error Early ci users would have to try one User Trial S and Error rocedure after another P Figure 2 Historical trend in realizing what was the right iis aoe El i l Doeg m o oT i ntell g bi il ity approach and what was the wrong one by seeing how many vacuum tubes were blown because of different actions Intelligibility was instilled in computer systems later by phone call support training and effective documentation The future of computers is represented by defensive programming which means anticipating problems and coding to avoid errors before they arise It includes such techniques as windows icons mouses and pointers WIMP Brockmann 1990 B RHETORICAL ORIENTATION IN THE WRITING PROCESS Communication takes place in a context called the rhetorical situation which includes an encoder writer and a decoder reader or user each having a purpose for reading or writing Communication is effective when the message received by the decoder is nearly the same as the message sent r5 by the encoder Pesante 1991 Rhetorical orien
103. lowed in organizing the text material in the appended user s guides e Make the organization of material apparent to readers Essentially that means that with words graphics or layout Tell the folks what you re going to tell em before you tell em e Organize documentation in ways expected by the readers Using general to specific and explanation to specific conditions works effectively that is instructions state a general procedure which is applied to the specific context Also readers expect information to be presented in chronological order most important to least important order order of need and order of difficultly The length of a user s guide varies depending on the subject matter This researcher tried to limit the WordPerfect guide to fifteen pages of material which would adequately cover all basic functions to be performed by the target audience Since a database management software program is generally so much more complex than a word processing program the dBase IV guide required approximately thirty pages to adequately cover the material needed by the target users 2 Content The content is the part of the manual that describes operations It focuses on commonly used tasks and its productivity is measured in terms of relevancy to the user The key to selection of tasks to be covered was the 80 20 45 Rule The 80 20 Rule is that the user s guide should cover the 20 of the tasks that a
104. m or wait a few moments and dBase IV will display the Control Center he Control Center After the dBase IV logo and copyright notice disappear the Control Center appears on your screen The operations performed by dBase IV are initiated from the Control Center The Control Center provides a user interface based on pull down menus rather than commands for interacting with dBase IV It is the primary user assistance feature for non programmers in dBase IV The five major parts of the Control Center are the menu bar the catalog line the file panels the current file description line and the navigation line The pointer is a highlighted bar that is moved by the Arrow keys to the menu options and files to select an option from the Control Center position the pointer and press Enter The Control Center displays the names of files in the current catalog in the panels which are labeled Data Queries Forms Reports Labels and Applications The names of various files from other users may appear in these panels but they will not affect your work 91 The Menu Bar At the upper left corner of the Control Center is the horizontal menu bar which offers the options Catalog Tools and Exit Each option has a pull down menu associated with it 1 Pull down menus can be accessed by pressing the Menu key F10 or by holding down the Alt key and typing the first letter of the option you want a Shaded options here are not available at the m
105. mentation in his Structured Process all of which he believes necessary for effective usable documentation By structured he refers to a formal top down decomposition of the user documentation development process into a development model which is designed so the components of the process are interconnected in the best possible way Weiss 1985 Figure 5 is a data flow diagram of the five phases showing the development flow for user documentation A brief description of the five phases of the Structured Process follows e Phase 1 Analysis Define just what manuals and other information products the users and operators need The earlier in the life of the system the analysis takes place the better Ideally the documentation analysis which often culminates in a Publications Plan in large projects should occur as part of the original system development plan but it is never too late to analyze the remaining documentation need e Phase 2 Design Prepare detailed outlines of each manual or other information product This phase starts 33 Figure 5 Data Flow Diagram for Developing User Documentation using A Structured Process Weiss 1985 e with the preparing of conventional outlines but then proceeds to the creation of structured outlines and storyboards working models of the documents that can be tested and revised before the first draft is written The most difficult structural and organizational problems must be cor
106. ms with documentation that render it inadequate or ineffective Some examples of problems are Brockmann 1990 e Layout and Style Problems misprints use of ordinary prose overuse or underuse of paragraph numbering lack of or poor highlighting scheme style that is not conducive to skimming and scanning e Organizational Problems not organized to aid the reader s search for information no preface telling the who what and when behind the document announced order of presentation of material not followed order of material not intuitive not apparent or not supported by graphics often used commands not clearly separated summary of procedures not clearly set out at the beginning e Audience Analysis Problems important information missing or unimportant information cluttering explanations lack of graphics figures and other supporting information e Consistency Problems programs commands functions not having same name throughout formats and layouts changing phraseology and wording not staying the same as much as possible numbering for sections and subsections not consistent transitions from topic to topic or screen to screen not obvious e Poor Reference Aid Problems lack of or incorrect table of contents or indexes not enough level of detail in table of contents illustrations figures and tables not numbered titled or listed e Update Problems no plan for updating handwritten notes used to update e Language Pr
107. n high priority 55 The ultimate test of the user s guides will be in the computer labs themselves and the classes in which they will be used Refinements may still be required corrections may have to be made and more material may have to be added Additionally no computer program remains static for long and trying to document the software has been likened to trying to change a tire on a speeding car When new versions of the programs are released new versions of the documentation will be required To ensure consistency within the user s guides appended to this paper and among any future user s guides or lab manuals developed for the AS IS Computer Labs this researcher provided specifications special graphics and pertinent instructions with the AS IS Computer Labs manager In conclusion it can be said that the principles described and the findings noted in this study can be used by all documentation writers to improve their documentation The benefits gained from the testing and reviewing of software documentation is a better understanding of user capabilities and improvements in design strategy With the goals of the user clearly in focus the production of higher quality useful documentation can be achieved The ultimate result is however in the acceptance and use of the user s guides by the people for whom it was designed 56 APPENDIX A AS IS Computer Labs Software Directory Sh AS IS COMPUTER LABS SOFTWARE DI
108. nd accurately written design documentation user documentation writers must expend more time and effort in interviews with designers making educated guesses and repeatedly reviewing and rewriting Brockmann 1990 The techniques required for writing user documentation differ radically from those required by essays or the like The basic difference is that between arranging information for sequential access and arranging it for random access Computer documentation must be able to be easily scanned and skimmed Brockmann 1990 Oversimplification occurs when documentation writers turn for help to commercially published instructional texts which do not adequately alert them to the effects that audience variations have on documentation projects and products As an example the use of templates in which writers needed only to fill in set templates with information peculiar to their own system initially appeared to solve problems of content adequacy and of organization As template use developed however it essentially confused sophisticated data processing users who had extensive prior knowledge with users who had no such knowledge and needed much more Brockmann 1984 Today new problems may be caused with the advent of industry wide corporate endorsed research based guidelines and user interface standards These standards may cause problems in four ways Brockmann 1990 25 e First to be generally applicable they often fail to be
109. necessary and identify by block number The preparation of software documentation is an iterative process that involves research analysis design and testing The writer must have a solid understanding of the technical aspects of the document being prepared good writing skills and most important an understanding of the needs of the audience for whom the document is written This thesis describes the theory and steps taken in developing software user documentation for applications software The final products are two prototy pes of user s guides for applications software programs specifically WordPerfect 5 1 and dBase IV 1 1 installed on the networks in the Administrative SciencesAnformation Systems Computer Laboratories at the Naval Postgraduate School 20 DISTRIBUTION AVAILABILITY OF ABSTRACT 21 ABSTRACT SECURITY CLASSIFICATION KJ UNCLASSIFIED UNLIMITED O same AS report LJ otic users UNCLASSIFIED 22a NAME OF RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUAL 22b TELEPHONE Include Area code 22c OFFICE SYMBOL Norman F Schneidewind 408 646 2719 DD FORM 1473 84 MAR 83 APR edition may be used until exhausted SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE All other editions are obsolete UNCLASSIFIED Approved for public release distribution is unlimited Alternatives for Developing User Documentation for Applications Software by Nancy K Clark Lieutenant Commander United States Navy B S Southern Methodist University Submitted in partial fulfillme
110. new name or edit the existing name then press lt ENTER gt b If you newly created the document and have not saved the file previously WordPerfect will prompt you for a file name Type in a drive and path designation and a file name of up to eight characters with an optional three character extension characters after the dot for example A WORK DOCUMENT DOC Then press lt ENTER gt The file will be saved on your floppy disk 2 Once the document has been saved you will be returned to the document screen Saving and Exiting WordPerfect Clearing the Screen When you are finished with your word processing session you will want to save your latest document and exit WordPerfect 1 Press lt F7 gt the Exit key 2 You will see the prompt Save document Yes No Press lt ENTER gt or lt Y gt to accept the default setting of Yes If you want to abandon the document and any changes you have made to it press lt N gt You can then exit without saving the document 3 After you have pressed lt ENTER gt WordPerfect prompts you for the name of the document a If you have not saved the document before type in the directory path and document name and press lt ENTER gt Remember to save your work to your formatted floppy disk before leaving b If you have already saved the document at least once the prompt will contain the directory path and document name 1 If you want to save it under the same name simply pre
111. ng Enter and moving the cursor into the band b Now you can enter and edit text move fields around and modify the contents of the band using F5 to place fields in the band You can close a band that you are not using by moving the cursor to the band border and pressing Enter Just remember to reopen the band before printing because closed bands do not print 5 A report band can be modified using either the layout editor or the word wrap editor Only the layout editor will be discussed here The layout editor lets you place fields on the band move them around and add fields boxes and lines to the report a Adding fields Position the cursor where you want the leftmost character of the field template to appear Either press F5 Field or select Add Field from the Fields pull down menu Select a field by positioning the highlight and pressing Enter from the submenu of possible fields 1 database those fields available from the current database or query 2 calculated display the results of dBase calculations 3 predefined those that dBase provides and handles automatically including date time recno record number and pageno page number 4 summary average count max min sum std and var Press Ctrl End to place the field and return to the design screen A series of Xs or Hs or Vs fills in a portion of the screen These are the field template which show the max space that data will occupy on a printed page b Moving and
112. nn 1990 Developing the Document Specifications Drafting and Reviewing Field testing Editing the the Document gt SDP el ecient Figure 4 The Standard Documentation Process Version 2 0 Brockmann 1990 e Step 1 Develop Documentation Specifications In this first step planning the documentation occurs in two passes The first pass is the development of a Library Specification that contains a brief description of all the documents involved with a particular software program or system This plan gives an opportunity to communicate the big picture of the whole writing project to management or clients The second pass is the development of the Individual Document Specification This second blueprint follows the Library Specification and communicates the specific plans for a single document to management clients and users Eleven activities are involved in the creation of these blueprints breaking down the documentation in the library by tasks using minimalist design principles planning for an audience analyzing the purpose of the documentation organizing the material developing a product visualization picking the 31 appropriate media deciding on page format and layout planning for updating considering the competition and estimating cost and time requirements Step 2 Prototype the Specification Since the ultimate test for paper or online documentation is usability document designers should iter
113. nt of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL September 1991 A A ABSTRACT The preparation of software documentation is an iterative process that involves research analysis design and testing The writer must have a solid understanding of the technical aspects of the document being prepared good writing skills and most important an understanding of the needs of the audience for whom the document is written This thesis describes the theory and steps taken in developing software user documentation for applications software The final products are two prototypes of user s guides for applications software programs specifically WordPerfect 5 1 and dBase IV 1 1 installed on the networks in the Administrative Sciences Information Systems Computer Laboratories at the Naval Postgraduate School iii i TIA TFI TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION A PROBLEM BACKGROUND AND DEFINITION B OBJECTIVES AS e C THE RESEARCH QUST TON E O aa D SCOPE E LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY F DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS G ORGANIZATION OF THIS STUDY LITERATURE REVIEW OF USER DOCUMENTATION DEVELOPMENT A OVERVIEW OF SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION FOR USERS B RHETORICAL ORIENTATION IN THE WRITING PROCESS C SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION PURPOSES D TYPES OF SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION E PROBLEMS WITH SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION F CAUSES OF I
114. nus 7 ES Query activating a saved query 21 changing 21 deactivating 22 saving 21 Query design keys 19 Query Design screen 12 20 file skeleton 21 Querying the database 19 Report custom report 22 quick report 26 Reports 22 adding and deleting lines 24 adding and deleting text 23 adding fields 23 changing text 23 deleting a line 24 deleting fields 23 deleting text 24 editing bands 23 editing keys 24 inserting lines 24 inserting text 23 layout editor 23 layout options 22 margins 22 modifying formats 25 moving and copying fields 23 printing 26 Reports Design screen bands 22 saving formats 25 saving modified report formats 25 Reports Design screen 22 Save database structure 12 index 17 memo fields 15 modified report format 25 query 21 22 report formats 25 Save changes and exit 11 13 20 Searching a database 18 120 for specific records 18 forward and backward searches 18 index searches 18 Server 3 Sorting 16 Sorts within sorts 17 Starting dBase IV 6 Status line 9 Submenus 7 Typeover mode 14 Undoing an edit 14 Unmarking records for deletion 16 User 3 Viewing records from the Browse screen 15 from the Edit screen 13 Width 10 21 LIST OF REFERENCES Adams Kay A Halasz Ida M and Adams R Jerry Handbook for Developing Computer User Manuals D C Heath and Company 1986 Axelrod C Warren Computer Productivity John Wiley amp Sons Inc 1982 Bailey Robert W Human Errors in Comp
115. oblems words such as files and records used without explanation no glossary inappropriate words 22 used words used interchangeably which do not mean the same thing unclear or conflicting instructions F CAUSES OF INADEQUATE SOFTWARE USER DOCUMENTATION Seven factors contribute to the problems causing the production of poor user documentation e The change from centralization to decentralization of computer systems e Institutional limitations e Inadequate design documentation e The techniques used in user documentation e Oversimplifying the writing task in many how to books and professional journals e Fighting against rather than harnessing the learning behaviors adults spontaneously adopt e Natural egoism Many writers have had difficulty adjusting to the change in the place and function of user documentation In the 1950s through the early 1980s computer systems were mostly centralized and surrounded by software specialists who could translate any user documentation that users did not understand With the shift toward decentralization where microcomputers and workstations stand alone throughout organizations and geographic locales software specialists are not available to translate or train at each node Thus user documentation must also be able to stand alone Too many writers continue writing in the centralized frame of mind Brockmann 1990 23 Even when documenters are alert to the needs of documentation in a d
116. oment usually because they make no sense in the current situation b Bulleted options those with arrows right pointing triangles have submenus associated with them 2 To leave the pull down menus at any time press the Esc key until the menus disappear The following keys are used to navigate the pull down menus You may want to try some of these keys to see how they work KEY EFFECT Enter Selects the currently highlighted option Arrow Left Moves to menu bar option on left or right Right Arrow Up Moves up or down to next available pull down menu option Down PgUp Home Moves to first available pull down menu option PgDn End Moves to last available pull down menu option First letter of any option Selects that option Esc Backs up to prior menu or Control Center The Catalog Line The catalog line is centered beneath the title of the Control Center screen and displays the name of the current catalog If no catalog has been created the catalog line 92 will read UNTITLED CAT A catalog is a grouping of related files in a database such as storing accounts receivable information in one catalog and inventory information in another The File Panels The file panels of the Control Center are the six vertical rectangles in the center of the screen labelled Data Queries Forms Reports Labels and Applications They contain the names of the various types of database files in the current catalog For instance the Da
117. on Moves highlight up or down one row in the file skeleton Moves to the next or previous page of file skeletons Moves to the top or bottom of the file skeleton column Moves cursor to the first field in the file or view skeleton Moves cursor to the last field in the file or view skeleton Saves changes and exits the Query Design screen Moves the cursor one field to the right in the file or view skeleton Moves the cursor one field to the left in the file or view skeleton Moves cursor one space back erasing along the way in the file or view skeleton Deletes the character the cursor is on in the file or view skeleton Moves back to the previous skeleton 106 F4 Next Moves forward to the next skeleton F5 Field Deletes or reinserts all fields in the view skeleton F6 Select Highlights a group of adjacent fields in the view skeleton F7 Move Moves selected text to a new location in the view skeleton F9 Zoom Expands and shrinks skeleton columns and condition boxes Shift F2 Brings up a Query Design screen for the selected database Design Ctrl N Inserts a blank row between two existing rows in the file skeleton Ctri U Deletes the entire current row in the file skeleton or condition box Ctrl W Saves changes and exits the Query Design screen Ctrl Y Deletes the entire current row in the view skeleton Esc Exits without saving changes and returns to the previously used screen The Query Design Screen Before you can query
118. on called a status line appears at the bottom of the screen 2 To define the fields you want to use in your records you must fill in the options indicated by the six field panel headings Num Field Name Field Type Width Dec and Index a Num The Num column tells you the field number you are working with It is defined by dBase and cannot be specified b Field Name You can enter any name that will identify the type of information to be entered in that field up to ten characters either upper or lower case It can contain only letters numbers and underscores and the first character must be a letter Each field name in a database file must be unique c Field Type Here you must specify what kind of information the field is going to hold There are six options which you can select by pressing the space bar until your choice appears in the place where Character originally appears Character is the default setting since most database fields are of character type You can also type the first letter of a choice to select it The six types are 25 1 Character type all letters punctuation marks special symbols and any numerals like zip codes and phone numbers Mathematical calculations cannot be performed on numbers in this field type 2 Numeric type numbers that will later require mathematical calculation or that have a fixed decimal point such as dollar amounts 3 Float type numbers that have a floating decimal
119. os eae A Pri H A i z 4 tg e Mas A an eee gait tM AAA Pero Y to S od gt A AN ig bis i Ls pt Wye on o AA eE A A OS my ae ee amp Sik E i O a REE E Oy Bes ord
120. own in Figure 1 One server can support more than one user computer usually six to ten The cabling system connecting the server and the users can be present in a number of forms PHONE LINE Figure 1 LAN Schematic 88 and configurations Cabling can be twisted pair wire coaxial cable and fiber optic cable Configurations include bus ring and star Logging on to a LAN as a user gives access to all the software on the server When a software package is chosen a copy of the software is downloaded to the user computer for execution The user computer executes the software like a standalone computer not accessing the server again unless a peripheral device such as a printer is needed Further information on these and other local area network topics can be found in the references listed below Suggested References Berry Paul Operating the IBM PC Networks Sybex Inc 1986 Fitzgerald J Business Data Communications John Wiley and Sons Inc 1990 Madron Thomas W Local Area Networks The Second Generation John Wiley and Sons 1988 schatt S Understanding Local Area Networks Howard W Sams and Company 1990 89 i A AAA _ _ __ _ E __ __ _ _ _ e _ _ M E tt SR A e m a A UN iit GRABA nO Wil ti Ww dBase IV is a database management system which lets you create many different types of databases make data a
121. prototypes and can be further refined but can be used not to communicate with users at most levels of the audience continuum Expert users of WordPerfect and dBase IV would probably find the user s guides least useful 54 V CONCLUSION In concluding the results of this study it appears that this researcher s intention to create user friendly user s guides was achieved The iterative methodology of the project development allowed the evaluation and refinement process to uncover errors and unclear sections Changes were made that improved the manuals and helped make them viable tools for teaching and for reference The emphasis shifted during the study from creating guides that the writer thought was relevant to creating a guide that revolved around user tasks Successful documentation requires an ongoing dialogue between the documentation developer and the users Much of the difficulty people experience in learning a new computer system can be directly attributable to poor design The egocentric style of designers must yield to humility and designs adjusted to accommodate the users skills desires and orientation Schneiderman 1986 Designers need to understand that their design efforts may not always produce the desired effects for a particular audience and be flexible enough to accept redesigning a system when necessary The techniques for producing quality documentation will be of no use unless audience analysis is give
122. re used 80 of the time An overview of the project also helps define what information should be included Elements that should be considered are Williams and Beason 1991 e General purpose of the project e Intended users of the software e Features of the software e Features that are outstanding or that make it different from other similar software e Operating system and other related software e Computer and other related hardware e Network or larger system the software may be part of Only the content that the user needs should be included The manual should be as brief as possible but not at the Sacrifice of pertinent information 3 Layout A good layout can make a manual more readable and give the writer the means for presenting information clearly and cleanly A layout for a software manual must meet two goals to make it easy for users to absorb information on the first reading and easy for them to locate specific bits of information later when they may need them Generally to design a manual which meets both these requirements the writer must Williams and Beason 1991 46 e Format the separate elements consistently so the readers can identify them at a glance All procedures should look alike e Use a generous amount of white space blank space on the page Information stands out on a page with white space and the pages are less tiring to read e Use headings to show the structure and hierarchy of the information
123. record Entering Data into Records 1 From the Control Center place the pointer on the database file in the Data panel in which you want to place information Press the Enter key 99 2 Move the pointer to Display data and press Enter The fields you created for your database structure will appear on the screen This is the Edit screen as indicated by the word Edit at the left end of the status line 3 Fill in each field with the appropriate data pressing the Enter key after each entry When you have filled in all the fields you will have completed a record and dBase moves to the next blank record Editing a Record in the Edit Screen From the blank record you are in press the PgUp key to move to a previous record To move to the field you want to edit use the Arrow Up and Arrow Down keys You can type over existing text to insert press the Insert Ins key Exiting the Edit Screen 1 Press the PgDn key until you reach the last record and see the following prompt at the bottom of the Edit screen gt Add new records Y N 2 Press Y and a blank set of fields appears 3 Press the Enter key and you are returned to the Control Center Editing and Adding Records in the Browse Screen 1 From the Control Center press the F2 key This is the Browse screen see left end of status line if it says Edit press F2 once more To edit an existing record simply move the cursor to the field that needs changing and type in the
124. rected before the first draft is written e Phase 3 Assembly Convert the storyboard to a work plan and write the first draft In the structured approach to documentation writing the first draft is a little like writing the code in a structured program that is the writers do little more than fill in missing details according to a strictly followed plan the storyboard e Phase 4 Editing Test the first draft for clarity correctness and readability In this approach questions of language and style are more than matters of esthetics rather the purpose of this phase is to apply principles of editing that make the manual easier to use and therefore less likely to cause a failure defined as what occurs when an operator or reader us unable to work the system because of a bug in the manual In many cases this phase culminates in a test with live readers e Phase 5 Maintenance Track what needs to be changed in the information products and when appropriate make the changes Because all manuals are flawed or out of date 34 without exception according to Weiss the last phase of documentation is to monitor what should be added removed replaced or repaired The craft of maintaining user documents is knowing what changes must be made and being able to distribute and incorporate those changes in a manner that does not generate confusion and additional errors Williams and Beason 1991 view software development pro
125. rent cursor position in the document that is already on the screen reating a WordPerfect Document You can begin work immediately when you have the WordPerfect screen displayed on your monitor You do not have to press lt ENTER gt at the end of each line since WordPerfect automatically word wraps for you You do need to press lt ENTER gt at the end of each paragraph Moving the Cursor The cursor is normally a small flashing underscore that indicates the position of each character you type to the screen If you want to edit some text you have to move the cursor to the desired location in the document 1 The four arrow keys on the right of the keyboard are the cursor movement keys These arrow keys are collocated with the numbered keys on the numeric keypad Press 66 the lt Arrow Up gt key to move one line at a time up the page the lt Arrow Down gt key to move down one line the lt Arrow Left gt key to move left one character at a time and the lt Arrow Right gt key to move right one character If you press a key down and hold it the cursor will move continuously in the direction of the arrow 2 To move the cursor one WORD at a time press the lt Ctrl gt key and hold it down while you press the lt Arrow Left gt key or the lt Arrow Right gt key Holding the lt Ctrl gt key down while pressing the lt Arrow Up gt or lt Arrow Down gt key will move the cursor to the beginning of the previous or next PARAGRAPH respect
126. rmation about it by pressing lt F3 gt 4 To display a diagram of the function key assignments for WordPerfect press lt F3 gt twice A template of WordPerfect s function keys Enhanced Layout will appear on your screen Press lt 1 gt and the IBM PC XT IBM Layout will be displayed 5 Press the lt ENTER gt key or lt Space Bar gt to exit the Help system etrieving a Document 1 To start a new document just begin typing in the document screen you are presented with at start up 2 To retrieve a document from a floppy disk 65 a Press Retrieve lt Shift F10 gt b Type in the drive path and document name e g A work document doc and c Press lt ENTER gt 3 If you do not remember the name of your document a Press lt F5 gt List Files b Type the appropriate drive and path e g A work to see the files in your work subdirectory on floppy Drive c Highlight your document by using the arrow keys to move the cursor bar and d Select the Retrieve option type lt 1 gt or lt R gt 4 List Files lt F5 gt gives you an alphabetical listing of all files in the current or specified directory and allows you to perform common maintenance tasks copy delete move rename print and find 5 If you retrieve a document while you are working on another document you will see the prompt Retrieve into current document No Yes If you type lt Y gt the document will be retrieved into the cur
127. rs and as the software itself better communicates its purposes and controls to the user Even now user documentation writers are not just paper manual writers rather they are communication specialists who have the necessary expertise to design the communication elements of the user interface elements of the software the messages the menus the online PE tutorials as well as the traditional paper manuals Brockmann 1990 However experience has shown that online documentation will not work unless it can be provided within the application program at the point in the user s operation where help is needed The methods and techniques of communication on paper will not be lost in the transition to a new medium but rather become more important In many cases the qualities of effective online documentation must be abstracted from the qualities of effective paper documentation For example the concept that effective online information must allow for multiple access methods of getting to information can be easily abstracted from a book s multiple access methods that range from the keyword searches of an index to a top down hierarchical approach of a table of contents to a page s headings that allow ea to information on a local level The idea of aliasing in keywords or online links is nothing more than the application of the concept of using See and See also in paper book indexes The principle of effective online documen
128. s Williams and Beason 1991 offered an audience profile description list which was useful in analyzing the anticipated 48 users of the user s guides being prepared for this study The elements included were e Level of computer expertise The range for this audience varied immensely with experience extending from the novice to the dedicated computer user to those with both job experience and baccalaureate degrees in the computer field Few are expected to have had experience on a network e Occupation Students in the AS Department at the Naval Postgraduate School who are pursuing advanced degrees in the administrative managerial science or information systems area Most have been trained in some technical or managerial field in which they have been working for a number of years e Knowledge about the field and subject Although many have at least an idea of what word processing is about and have even used such programs previously most potential users of the guide are presumed to have little experience with WordPerfect 5 1 Most potential users have not had any experience with a database management system or specifically dBase IV 1 1 e Position in organization or field The prospective audience is students and faculty at an academic institution NPS e Level of education The prospective users have at least a baccalaureate degree e Age group The students who will use the guides are older than average for graduat
129. s 4 i i E eee R a A Oe BAG Bieta ET et Stig x UROA cea saat p Ae Y ES CAU OANA NA cert se KARN ay Y CAGE T vies paid es KN ve A ax a Ai E IAR P M a g 4 A f E i y Pie Avera 4 Le staid i im 3A g PAN Atd s 8 pelt es we tts Pe GE 1 ae e Ws Wi i e i j t uy g EEA A lt a a y ye s e 538 if LiT tl ne Th ya f f fa t O DES ena Sa Ci CANE o Ret ut yt ee ti Si LA a s Lays F an TAN Laya peg se et ten E E EN oe ON oe Ne ae Mee de CaO MERE RON RRS fr whee AN an sss AA Ferunt A a ce E Ghee Wee ee ce A ae RA i ULA ea NE tye E viet ay gt he see gt z s a h 12 E UTA ala vu i e i wo we Log au i he PRO eae i D t Rea a ne Nae ELA OK Bey ten ARNES Mo Ro N ra wit ats de eh o NAS i e ay amp tts EK A t tice 2 e ay il 38 gt y NS y j y a t eS 47 H ee e eas t at Me La s 1 t py Es A i yates es vee ORI KES i EA RUG hy eis URE ng SAGS a Ea ahy x Cr LR ee ee to SA as NE ie he hi Wie e s y f cin ds 5 sas 2 AA t aA H f gt dE sE wn Pine SA 4 t es D e wigs i ae rane vere se a ee Ries DES E csi se an Sh SA elders W ou ela a ei AN gue 1 fits oF etn t 1 7 ats 4 5 e j 4 nage Le A Py rap y 4 se ae oe set On A Ny e a MAN i ec es Es ES t ke E 3 PE ET iat fs AE ee AO T YA AA E me a Ch AA etis l tat p n A Tesa oly a ety IA ee eae 5 en naw Rita sass A iy ie rahe Ei Ase gt PUE Y t pen et PERA es UL te ns s af E A e
130. ss 77 lt ENTER gt WordPerfect will respond with the prompt Replace ANWORKIDOCUMENT DOC No Yes If you change your mind and decide to rename the document press lt ENTER gt Otherwise type lt Y gt for Yes 2 If you want to save the document under a new name type it in or edit the existing name and press lt ENTER gt 4 After the document is saved you will see this prompt Exit WP No Yes a The default response is No so you can press lt ENTER gt or lt N gt to CLEAR THE SCREEN and begin creating a new document or retrieve another document for editing b If you decide you do not want to have your document cleared from the screen press Cancel lt F1 gt to retain it and return to editing its text c If you answer Yes to exiting WordPerfect you will be returned to the 1DIR menu to select another application or log off the system 78 Bibliography Harvey Greg and Nelson Kay Yarborough WordPerfect 5 1 Instant Reference Sybex Inc 1990 Simpson Alan Mastering WordPerfect 5 1 Sybex Inc 1990 T9 index Arrow keys 6 Block 9 11 operations 12 Bold 9 12 13 Cancel 9 11 16 block 12 Center 9 12 13 Clear the screen 16 Columns tables 9 Columns Table 12 Cursor movement 6 arrow keys 6 line 7 page 6 7 screen 7 sentence 7 techniques 7 to end of document 7 top of document 7 word atatime 6 Date 9 12 Delete by character 7 by word 7 page 8 paragraph 8 sentence 8 several words 8 te
131. ss Shift F2 Design 2 From the Organize pull down menu select Order Records by Index 3 From the submenu select the desired index The field you search must be either the sole field indexed on or the first field in the index expression 4 Press F2 Data to go to the Browse or Edit screen to conduct your search 5 Select the Index Key Search option from the Go To menu dBase presents the prompt Enter search string for lt field name gt This is the expression for the current index dBase displays this to tell you what field you currently can search 105 6 Type the value to search on including upper and lower case letters and press Enter dBase will locate and display the first record that matches your search string uerying the Database The process of selecting specific records from the database is called querying the database The technique you use is called query by example abbreviated QBE dBase IV presents a skeleton of the database file in use and you give examples of the kinds of information you want dBase to display Queries are handled via the Query Design screen Keys used to design a database query are described below KEY Enter Arrow Left Right Arrow Up Down PgUp PgDn Ctri PgUp PgDn Home End Ctri End Tab Shift Tab Backspace Del F3 Prev EFFECT Completes an entry in the file or view skeleton Moves the cursor one character to the left or right in the file or view skelet
132. t or duplicate the required number of copies Assemble bind and distribute documents e Phase V Maintenance Prepare incorporate and distribute revisions and addenda on an ongoing basis as necessary Although the number and definitions of the phases and steps in each of these processes vary all have commonalities which must be viewed as mandatory in any software user documentation development process A comparison of the three approaches to the documentation process is provided in Table 4 However the steps or phases are organized the actual processes all contain the elements of planning designing drafting rewriting testing producing distributing and maintaining the software user documentation developed 37 Table 4 Comparison of Software User Documentation Development Processes SDP Brockmann 1990 Structured Process Document Development Weiss 1985 Process Williams amp Beason 1991 1 Doc Specs IA Analysis I Documentation plan 2 Prototype II Design 3 Draft Doc III Assembly II Outline First Draft s 4 Edit IV Editing 111 Reviews Tests Final Drafts 6 ield test 7 Produce Distro IV Production 8 Review Project j V Maintenance V Maintenance Since the development methods studied displayed commonality the decision on which method to use for development of the user s guides for the AS IS Computer Labs at NPS was based on versatility applicability complexity completeness
133. ta panel holds the names of database files that contain data the Forms Reports and Labels panels hold the names of formats used to display forms and to print reports and mailing labels and the Queries and Applications panels hold the names of query files and dBase IV application programs dBase IV applications will not be covered by this manual Each panel also includes the option lt create gt which allows you to create a new database file form report or query it is placed into the current catalog The Current File Description Line The File and Description section just beneath the file panels provide the name of the currently selected file and a brief description of the file s contents If lt create gt is highlighted instead of a file name this area displays New file and Press ENTER on lt create gt to create a new file The Navigation Line At the bottom of the screen is the navigation line It displays the commands that are available for the option currently selected As an example the navigation line displayed at the Control Center shows Help F1 Pressing F1 always displays a Help screen Use Use the highlighted item E Enter Return Data F2 Display data in Browse mode Pressing F2 a second time displays data in Edit mode Design Shift F2 Displays the Database Design screen Quick Report Shift F9 Displays the Print menu Menus F10 Activates the menu bar 93 etting Help You can use the Help key F1 at
134. tation includes such factors as Sullivan and Porter 1990 e the writer s model of communication that is the writer s beliefs about the way discourse works the way it ought to be produced and the way users ought to respond to it e the writer s beliefs about priorities in writing what are important criteria and how do we measure writing effectiveness e the writer s attitudes toward authority where will we look for answers what authorities should we call upon e the writer s conviction to a specific document to what degree is the writer an advocate for the document for the system for the user Noise that prevents effective communication includes ambiguity mistaken assumptions emotional reactions to a topic or word choice insensitivity of the writer to the needs of the reader user overuse of passive voice long convoluted sentences and so on To be effective a writer must analyze all the elements of the rhetorical situation and the relationships among them reader user s writer s subject matter and language It is especially easy in technical writing to concentrate on the subject matter and neglect the other elements Pesante 1991 Studies have shown that a writer s use of information is guided by that writer s rhetorical orientation particularly his her view of the audience user Sullivan and Porter T990 From the perspective of theories of writing and rhetoric user centeredness has a solid basis
135. tation is that we have to move away from effective paper documentation abstract from paper its tricks and techniques and then reinvent their tricks and techniques in online documentation using different tools Brockmann 1990 Several documentation theories will be outlined in this thesis Often the best solution to user documentation 12 problems is an eclectic solution a little from one writing style a little from a hypertext linking philosophy and so on Only one methodological guide remains constant and unyielding across all theories the audience is always right Thus as many sides to solutions and their defects as possible are presented Brockmann 1990 More and more documenters are breaking out of the software design organizations in which they merely massage written software design specifications Now documenters are getting information from such people as the design team of which they are a member right from the beginning from actual users in their own environments through the application of documentation specification reviews and early prototype testing and from fellow documenters in documentation teams and in structured documentation project reviews Getting more information from people than from books means that negotiating listening and getting along with fellow documentation team members software designers and users will play much more of a role than ever in the past Brockmann 1990 Gone are the days when
136. te small guide booklet or single page document e Online help system Displays information on the screen while the program is running The following chart aids selection decisions with regard to the categories of documentation to produce Williams and Beason 1991 39 TYPES Tutorial Procedures guide Re ference material Quick reference piece Online help system USE WHEN Users are novices Users must teach themselves Users need to get started quickly Program i s complex or interface is intimidating Users have some experience or program is simple Users know how to use features and are familiar with the interface Useni are experienced with the program Users need information while running the program 40 ADVANTAGES Builds confidence Lets users practice Allows quick user friendly use of program features Allows users to choose only procedures they need Information is c omp Iet en arranged in task or iented groupings Allows quick access to details Allows users to ap p rMo a cih information from many angles Quickly reminds users which commands functions or keys to use Allows users to get assistance without looking away from the screen The decision about which categories of documentation to produce depends on the needs of the audience and on the budget and schedule For documenting only an application a procedures guide may be sufficient for do
137. te an item of information in the database You can create or modify an index from the Database Design screen at any time whether or not the database contains records You can create up to 47 indexes for any given database dBase IV stores all the indexes for a given database in a file with the same name as the database but with the extension MDX When you add change or delete records dBase updates the indexes automatically 1 Highlight the database name in the Data panel of the Control Center and then press Shift F2 to invoke the Database Design screen 2 Select Create New Index from the Organize pull down menu and press Enter A submenu appears asking for information about the index 3 Press Enter to select Name of Index Type the index name also called the tag and press Enter You can assign any name to the index following the same basic guidelines as for creating field names see Field Name page 13 4 Now select the Index Expression option and press Enter Type the lt index expression gt and press Enter The index expression is a single field name for a simple index You cannot index on logical or memo fields HOS 5 Select the Order of Index option skip the FOR clause it will not be covered You can choose Ascending lowest to highest or Descending highest to lowest by pressing the Space bar 6 Press Ctrl End to save your work the last entry will not be covered either dBase IV will create the index and sho
138. ure described above enter the remaining field information for your record and save this database file structure as described in the Saving the Database Structure section below Making Changes and Corrections At this point if you notice an error in your file structure or wish to make a change you can use the keys described here to change your database file structure The keys wont always work if you attempt to leave a field that has incomplete or invalid data You may 96 have to experiment with several keys or type Ctrl U to completely delete an incomplete or invalid field to get the cursor moving in the direction you want KEY Enter Arrow Left Right Arrow Up Down Home End Ctrl End Tab Shift Tab Backspace F1 Help F2 Data Ctrl N Ctrl U Ctrl W Shift F2 Design Esc EFFECT Completes an entry and moves to the next column or row Moves cursor one character to the left or right Moves highlight up or down one row Moves cursor to the first column in the row Moves cursor to the last column in the row Saves changes and exits the Database Design screen Moves cursor one column to the right only if valid information is already in the present column Moves cursor one column to the left only if valid information is already in the present column Moves cursor one space back erasing along the way Displays Help screen Switch to browse or edit screen Inserts a blank field between two existin
139. ures of documentation that both users and dealers thought were important factors in selecting one software package over another Major themes were that information in AT amp T manuals should be e Easy to find better reference aids were recommended e Easy to understand not assume too much have graphics and be task oriented e Complete accurate and current e Indexed absence of an index was a definite reason to avoid purchasing a software product Microsoft Corporation conducted a documentation survey in 1984 Borland 1984 which found that end users wanted e task oriented tutorials e screen illustrations and terms explained in glossaries e reference cards which listed first all the commands and then the tasks with commands used to complete them e a feature oriented command index as well as a task oriented index e a task oriented organization e a reference manual that comprehensively described all the features of the product 28 e trouble shooting guides A PC User Group conducted a survey of 241 microcomputer owners Wilton 1985 Table 2 portrays the contrast between what readers said they wanted and what was actually delivered Do you agree or disagree Manuals should accommodate all users Vs Manuals do accommodate all users Tutorials are usually helpful vs Many manuals omit tutorials Illustrations should substitute more for text vs Illustrations are adequate in number Information is easy
140. uter Systems Prentice Hall 1983 Beard Richard E and Callamars Peter V A Method for Designing Computer Support Documentation AFIT LSH September 1983 Borland Russell E Those Silly Bastards A Report on Some Users Views of Documentation ACM SIGDOC Conference Proceedings Second International Conference on Systems Documentation The Association for Computing Machinery Inc 1984 11 15 Bradford Annette N Enhanced User Interface Through Computer Tutorials IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference Record IEEE Service Center 1983 131 Brockmann R John Where Has the Template Tradition in Computer Documentation Led Us ACM_SIGDOC Conference Proceedings Second International Conference on Systems Documentation The Association for Computing Machinery Inc 1984 16 18 Brockmann R John Writing Better Computer User Documentation John Wiley and Sons Inc 1990 Bryant Tom Good Operator Documentation is Good Business Technical Support February 1990 79 82 Carroll John M and Rosson Mary Beth Interfacing Thought Cognitive Aspects of Human Computer Interaction MIT Press 1987 83 111 Chinell David F System Documentation The In Line Approach John Wiley and Sons inc 1990 7 78 Chorafas Dimitris N The Software Handbook Petrocelli Books Inc 1984 122 IEEE Standard for Software User Documentation ANSI IEEE Std 1063 1987 The Institute of Electrical and Electroni
141. w its progress on the screen When it is done the Database Design screen reappears Sorts within Sorts If sorting your database on a single field is not sufficient such as when you want to sort records in last name order and then in first name order for those with identical last names you need to perform a sort within a sort To do this follow steps 1 6 above under indexing However use an index expression that lists the fields to sort on in priority order with a plus sign for character types between each field e g LASTNAME FIRSTNAME The first field in the expression is the primary sort field the second is the secondary sort field and so on There are other sorting possibilities but they are beyond the scope of this basic guide Activating an Index To make dBase IV use your index 1 From the Database Design screen select the Organize pull down menu Highlight the Order Records by Index option and press Enter 2 Highlight the desired option from the submenu listing index options and press Enter 3 Press F2 to view the data in sorted order If the Edit screen appears instead of the Browse screen press F2 again to switch If necessary press PgUp to scroll to the first record earching a Database dBase IV can search a database for a specific record or grouping of records with something in common Searching for Specific Records 104 Both the Browse screen and Edit screen menu bars include the Go To menu which
142. writing was done after a product was complete and writers were given the product specification and told to pubs it up Today s information developers must work as equal partners with other product developers The lines between hardware software and information are getting blurred with the advent of interactive programming new input devices and displayable manuals For 13 this reason cooperation and collaboration across disciplines will become even more important and people should start practicing it now Grice 1988 Computer documentation can be defined as communication designed to ease interactions between computer software and the individuals who operate it Thus to write software documentation you must act as intermediary between the computer software and its users Brockmann 1990 Inadequate user Human Enors documentation can greatly Using 100 Computer Systems increase human errors in computer systems Robert W Bailey categorized the major factors for human errors in computer systems Three categories environmental Figure 1 Percentage of human errors directly affected by the problems personnel problems documentation and organizational accuracy factors accounted for 50 of all human errors and are beyond the control of the software or computer designers and documenters The other 50 are within the control of the designers documenters and of these 60 are directly affected by the qua
143. xt 7 to beginning of word 8 to end of line 8 to end of page 8 to end of word 8 Editing screen new 16 End Field 9 12 Exit 9 12 Help system 5 Flush Right 9 12 13 80 Font 9 12 Footnote 9 12 Format 9 12 13 Functions Function keys alphabetical listing 8 online help 5 Sequential listing 11 GoTo 9 GoTo DOS 11 Graphics 9 12 Hard page 9 Help 5 9 11 command 5 exiting 5 feature 5 function 5 function key 5 function key template 5 Hyphen soft 11 Indent 9 11 Insert date 9 document 6 mode 7 8 text 7 List 12 List files 6 9 Local area network 2 server 2 user 2 Lowercase block 12 Macro define 10 12 execute 10 12 Margin release 10 set 9 Mark Text 10 12 13 Merge 13 End Field 9 Merge Codes 10 12 Merge Sort 12 13 Move 10 11 13 81 Outline 9 12 Preview document see view document 14 Print 10 12 13 block 13 14 document 13 one page 13 view document 10 Rename 16 Rename file 15 16 Replace 10 12 15 Restoring text 8 9 Retrieve 10 12 16 document from floppy 5 list files 6 while working in another document 6 Reveal Codes 10 11 Save 10 12 and exit 15 block 13 document 14 without exiting 15 Screen 11 automatic screen writing 10 boxes 10 lines 10 windows 10 Search 10 backward 10 11 forward 10 11 Server 2 setup 11 Shell GoTo DOS 11 Sort 13 Spell 11 12 Start document 6 new document 5 16 WordPerfect 4 Style 11 12 Switch 11 Tab Align 11 12 82 Tables 9 Text In Out
144. you want the new line to appear and then press Ctrl N select Add Line from the Words pull down menu or press Enter while in Insert mode To delete a line from a report format move the cursor to the line and either press Ctrl Y or select Remove Line from the Words menu The keys for editing report formats are KEY EFFECT Enter If Insert mode is off moves down one row if Insert mode is on inserts a new line Arrow Left Moves left or right one character or to end of field template Right Arrow Up Moves up or down one row Down PgUp PgDn Moves to top or bottom of screen Home Moves to beginning of line End Moves to end of line Tab Moves to next tab setting Shift Tab Moves to previous tab setting Ins Toggles Insert mode on off Backspace Erases character to the left Del Deletes character field template or block selected with F6 F1 Help Provides help F5 Field Adds a new field template or changes currently highlighted one F6 Select Selects field template or block F7 Move Moves field or block selected with F6 T F8 Copy Copies field or block selected with F6 Shift F7 Changes size of currently selected field template Size Ctrl N Inserts a new line Ctrl T Removes word or field to right Ctrl Y Removes entire line Esc Abandons current format without saving changes Saving Report Formats 1 Highlight Layout on the menu bar and select Edit Description of Report Type a description and press Enter 2

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