UI Hell

This is one of those UI problems that really should have been fixed a long time ago. From perhaps the best application for authoring large documents, comes perhaps the worst interface for checking spelling.



You might not see the problem at first glance (and lo, that is what makes it so dastardly). But trust me, after the second pot of coffee, with the clock at 1:00AM, and half way through spell checking a 1000 page document, the mind starts to play funny tricks on you... like make you unsure of whether or not "Correct" in this instance is used as in, "Please correct the word" or as in, "This word is correct."

This is FrameMaker 6.x. Anyone know if it looks the same in 7.x?

Engineering Humor - Part II

I had to chuckle when I saw this. Installed with this particular application are 6 different sets of online Help. One for each different "type" of user of the system.

Here's how the Installation Wizard handles the Help system install:



(Emphasis added.)

The Dangers of Kerning

I found myself quite stricken by FrameMaker's rendering of this text:



Fortunately, it only appears in FrameMaker (chalk it up as yet another of Frame's endearing qualities I suppose) and does not appear in either of the output formats I generate.

It reminded me of something similar back at HP...it turns out that when the online Help was printed, and when printed only, the same unfortunate kerning calamity appeared. Back then, this came to me through our support channel. A customer didn't so much as complain about it, as mention it to our support rep when calling about another issue. She of course, had to check it out herself. Soon thereafter, I heard about it.

Well, can you guess how many times one writes "click" in a software manual????

Engineering Humor

I'm sure other technical writers working with software engineers have come across similar things. This one was brought to my attention after an explosion of uproarious laughter from the engineering manager.



This, the first window of an application's Installation Wizard.

What are some whimsical examples of engineering humor you've come across?