• AstralPath
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    42
    ·
    2 months ago

    The mistake is the assumption of a certain level of end user knowledge.

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      66
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 months 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@feddit.ukOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        2 months 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
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          2 months 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.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      2 months ago

      Why’s that a mistake? Not everything is built for a novice

      • Tja@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        2 months ago

        I agree with this. When I publish my code, it is documented for someone in my field with around my level of knowledge. I assume you know DNS, I assume you know what a vector is, I assume you know what a dht is, I assume you know what O(log n) is.

        I’m not writing a CS50 course, I’m helping you use the code I wrote.

        Might be different for software like libre office which is supposed to be used by anyone, but most software on earth is built with other developers in mind.