Why’s that a mistake? Not everything is built for a novice
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AstralPath@lemmy.ca 1 month agoThe mistake is the assumption of a certain level of end user knowledge.
GBU_28@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 1 month ago
You have to assume some level of end user knowledge, otherwise every piece of documentation would start with “What a computer does” and “How to turn your computer on.”
I’ve found the best practice is to list your assumptions at the top of the article with links to more detailed instructions.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
I do agree, manies have I found documentation saying “make a fresh install of Raspbian” as if I’m using the computer for this single issue
(Disclaimer: I am not running matrix on a Raspberry Pi)
vividspecter@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Another case is listing a huge number of steps to do some task, without acting describing what the end goal for each set of instructions is (common in “how to” guides, and especially ones that involve a GUI).
This means that less technical users don’t really understand what is going on and are just following steps in a rote way, and it wastes the time of technical users since they probably know how to achieve each goal already.