Re: st: Object oriented help files (and Tabling: an agenda)

[Richard Williams <Richard.A.Williams.5@nd.edu>]

At 07:21 AM 10/8/2003 -0500, Fred Wolfe wrote:

> I think that while additional documentation is on the mark (particularly 
> for documentation mavens [an OK word according to the OED], of which I am 
> one, what is required is practical and usable documentation. As I have 
> grown to love Stata 8's graphics, I have generated unbridled animosity to 
> the graphics help system and manual, having spent (wasted) hours trying to 
> find things to make the graph I needed.
>
> I think what is needed is a help system that displays all sorts of graphs 
> so that one can go to it and say, "That's the graph I want."
I think this is one area where Stata could borrow a page or two from 
(horrors!) SPSS's book.  Spss makes its whole manual available as a pdf 
file, and also has quicker ways of just viewing the syntax for a 
command.  Spss, of course, needs good documentation because the program is 
so internally inconsistent in its syntax and features, but when you need 
help it does a good job of providing it.

I also like the way Excel will let you get a rough preview of what a graph 
will look like and gives you a wizard-like approach for modifying the 
appearance of the graph.


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Richard Williams, Associate Professor
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