SeedoV16.htm
See-Do Format For Tutorials and User Manuals
BrianG/ 12th April 2008
On this Forum I came across an unofficial guide by MVSMITH to the use of the SS2006 Mission Editor located at:-
Ship Simulator > English forum > Ship Simulator 2008 > Missions > Mission Editor tutorial beta PDF
It seemed to help some users who preferred it to the Official Guide though others preferred the Official Guide. Having produced innumerable similar documents in my career with computers I offer the format that I found best for Computer Operating Instructions.
The See-Do method divides the user's actions into pairs of steps. The first step states what the User is expected to SEE followed by the second step stating what he is then expected to DO. These steps then alternate until he sees the final view that tells him he has completed the task.
The advantages are that the User is always faced with a small step and he can always see that he has completed the step correctly. If he has to ask for help he can point to the exact step where things went wrong which is very helpful to the helper. Without this system the user often gets stuck and does not know that he made a mistake a few steps earlier, becomes frustrated and may even give up. When seeking help he has difficulty explaining exactly where he went wrong. The author finds it much easier to check his work as he steps through it and checks that after each DO step he sees what he said will be seen.
I have recreated as an example the first part of the MVSmith's SS2006 Mission editor tutorial revised for the SS2008 Mission Editor in See-Do format.
It is important to test the instructions and amend them and retest them until perfect. I took about ten tries to get to this state. In doing so you will save all the users meeting the same problems making it well worth the effort.
Give it a try if you are interested and reply with your opinion. If popular then hopefully VStep and/or their volunteers will make use of it for the many User Instructions being written.
To avoid taking up space on this forum I have placed it at:-
http://www.brian-gilbert.com/shipsim/seedo.htm
Vstep can if they wish move it to a location on their website.
BrianG
