No Imagine Blues
2 messages in this thread
I've been reading quite a bit on this bulletin board about how angry people
are with the Imagine 2.0 manual.
Granted, it is not what I had expected or hoped for, in terms of
organization….
But, it is actually not nearly so bad as everybody seems to be crying out.
Once you get used to the rambling style, it generally gives you a fairly
complete tutorial of the program. I have finally started to plow through
it and have been quite pleased at how much I've learned. Granted, I plowed
through the tiny Imagine 1.0 manuals, the book The Imagine Companion (an
excellent source of tips on the program's idiosyncracies, also with a good
tutorial, yet leaving out any help with several crucial areas in Imagine),
but I have still been unable to get a grip on many major areas of this
program.
Daily, even after hundreds of hours of time with Imagine, I am increasingly
impressed at the incredible power of this program. I am also learning that
version 2.0 is a far more significant update than I had initially thought.
I, too, was questioning whether it was worth the extra $100. Believe me,
the upgrade is significant.
The manual gives an excellent explanation of the elusive portion of the
program: the "Forms Editor". This is really quite a powerful section of
the program….and one I have not understood until today.
If anyone asks: "Should I upgrade." The answer is a loud "YES!"
Gadzooks. The program is still incredibly worthwhile even if one has to
spring some extra bux for a third-party manual (and happily there
apparently is one, from Worley/Apex, see later). But it's really bugging to
see a manual that's so obviously one-drafted, no index so they say "read
the whole thing, it's a complex product…" I used it for bedtime reading
for several days before breaking down and installing the product (thank
heaven for read.me files — the manual authors couldn't even count the
disks).
Then I tried the Appendix 'Imagine Tutorial'. Mistake. At least three
major errors that I know about (assuming that a largely black screen is one
of them!). It's a good thing that I "know" the product is a lot more
carefully written than the documentation….
Their hearts are in the right place (as opposed to the TS manual, which
simply refused to tell you eg how to load objects), but please –edit!
reread! revise! think of your poor readers!
Three spelling typos on the first page, for pity's sake!
— Eric A.