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September 21, 2009
[JUST READ THE EXPLETIVE DELETED MANUAL]
Last week a pal sought help with a scanning project. He intended to scan 70 transparencies, using a Microtek flat bed scanner with a plug-in illuminated slide thingy.
We studied the doodad, totally non-plussed, for some time. Then he figured out that the slide-shaped slot on the plug-in unit must be intended for slides! Yes, well... But there was no way of guessing where to put the slide thing, and the scanner software was the most user-hostile program we had ever seen. So, we asked the sensible question: “Where's the user manual?”
Our pal belongs to that vast cohort of manual haters. He had no idea where the scanner instructions might be. So in the end he came to our place to use our equally non-intuitive scanner for which we happen to have a manual.
When you go by the pretentious (but ironic) nom de plume of “Imaging” you become everyone's Help Desk, an ever present help in time of trouble. This is a service we are happy to provide, but we do get exasperated when the answer to the question: “Have you looked in the manual?” is: “I don't believe in manuals. It should be obvious.”
We love a good manual. Our 420 page Nikon D300 User's Manual is a thing of beauty, with an index that is both comprehensive and elegant. And the 195 page book that came with our Canon 40D – we wouldn't presume to be able to use all the camera's features without having it to hand. The idea of losing either of these books fills us with dread, but we know people who blithely throw away their manuals with the empty camera boxes and then are surprised when they see us accessing a feature as elementary – but non-intuitive – as manually setting the white balance. “Hey! How do you do that?”
However, our exasperation with manual-averse friends is nothing compared with our deep irritation when we open a camera box and finds no printed manual but only a risible “getting started” pamphlet that tells us if we want to know more we must print out the pdf documentation, on disc, ourselves.
When we reviewed the Samsung ST550 we had to print out the 109 page user manual. We were not pleased.
We have heard all the sanctimonious claptrap about saving trees, but we haven't saved a single woodchip by printing a manual on single sided A4 paper when it could have been provided properly printed on 16X13cm paper, both sides. Shouldn't a gadget costing $500 come with a proper set of instructions?
A manual on disc is no substitute for one on paper. We would be interested to know just how often anyone has ever consulted a manual on disc. Never? We thought so. Mind you, there is something worse than no manual at all and that is a really bad manual, totally incomprehesible and indexed with all the wrong page numbers. You should see the Fernsehen Bedienungsanleitung that came with our German TV.
Posted by terry at September 21, 2009 05:13 PM
Worth Checking Out
Digital Cameras SydneyComments
I've accessed pdf manual on disc before. One thing I think the disc is doing good is the ability to search keywords even if the index is designed poorly.
However, a paper manual is way better when you want to read it before you go to sleep. It's probably hard to carry a laptop (even those eeepc) into your bed and try to read ... at the same time you're lying in a comfortable position.
Posted by: wulala at September 21, 2009 06:08 PM
I'm a little torn on this issue. While I love reading books 'in the flesh' I find that most tech products - including cameras - do not require a printed manual. Indeed if they do *require* a manual then usually it's due to poor user interface design.
I too own a D300 and the manual is excellent. But do I need it printed? No. Scanning over it in pdf form would have been fine - 80% of the content is relatively obvious. And I've learnt much more about the camera online than from the manual anyway. And to answer your question, yes, I would - and do - read electronic manuals.
I'm with your manual-adverse friends. It should be obvious. I'd rather the effort that went in a manual were redirected into making the product easier to use!
But then I'm an advanced user - if I can't figure out how to do something there's a serious issue with the product. I'd agree that manuals can be life savers to casual tech users.
Now, did you really need to print out the 109 page Samsung manual?
Posted by: MattyT at September 22, 2009 12:32 AM