People Power
Thursday, 10th March 2005 by Neville Clark
I was working with a client today and sharing some of my tips and tricks on using Windows XP. It dawned on me that these tips that I take for granted are treated as good ideas by my clients. The fact that they are functions built into the software become irrelevant when the user is unaware of them.
For example - Novice users do not distinguish between applications that create files and applications that manipulate files.
My first experience of this was my wife trying to save a document she had written using Word onto a floppy disk from the My Documents folder:
- she opened word
- clicked file
- clicked open
- clicked My Documents
- clicked 'cathy' folder
- searched for the file
- clicked the file
- clicked open
- clicked file
- clicked saves as
- clicked the A: drive
- clicked Save
So now I always teach people to consider two main aspects of a computer - applications that edit and create files and applications that administer the files.
Now the above task becomes:
- open Windows Explorer - (windows key and 'E')
- click My Documents
- click 'cathy' folder
- click and drag the file to the A: drive
A good idea is only good when you tell someone so please pass it on.
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