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> Laurie Miles wrote: > > > I am convinced that the way forward is to have software > > which has a standard interface, is easy to use straight > > off, has appropriate help (including "bubble help" on > > buttons), and a manual written in such a way as to > > encourage learning and answer any general questions. Prit supported: > An excellent point regarding manuals, and one that I have > made - fruitlessly - to our supplier (Genisyst/UK > Global). Indeed, members of the Genisyst Local Users' > Group (how nice to get a suitable acronym without > having to contrive it!) have considered writing our > own manual, written _by_ users _for_ users. Perhaps GP-UK > would be a suitable forum for helping to produce > straightforward manuals for the main systems in use? What I found through extensive advisory work with many practices with respect to ViSion and my own experience with other systems is that what is really lacking is the "real gp" user training another real gp user. The training you get from the supplier when you install the system is OK but it is a bit like learning medicine at med school or a language from a diy book. It is all the nitty gritty stuff and the various short cuts that a real user can only know that need to be transferred to new users. This could be coupled with an ongoing ideas exchange. The whole thing goes back to issues raised before and I talked about the shrink wrapped software that many of us install all the time without all this hassle. How many of you read the manulas for, say, Windows95 or Office? Writting a manual is a daunting and un-necessary task. To my mind, if you need to read the manual, then the software has failed. This is a yard stick I use to evaluate the ease of use of any new software. Al Hakim Ibn Omar, Master Seller of Dreams and Ice Cream _______________________________________ Ahmad Risk MB BCh business tel: +44 1737 240022 fax: +44 1737 244660 home tel: +44 1293 782255 http://www.cybermedic.org/ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%