Proper use of "how to" articles

• May 27, 2019 - 22:59

I'm about to prepare some "how to" material. However I see that these articles are not linked to on the main handbook gateway page, nor do I see a clear way that users learn about them. I'm probably missing something obvious. Can someone kindly answer these questions?

  1. Are how-tos still viewed as an important resource? How do users find them?

  2. Assuming they are still relevant, would it be appropriate to add a link from the handbook page to the how-tos?

  3. Is it appropriate to link from a particular handbook page to a relevant how-to, explaining details about the use of a feature?

I'd rather not do something stupid that needs to be undone. Thanks.

Comments

• May 28, 2019 - 00:05
  1. People find them when they hover over the Support menu at the top of each page and see the category "How to's" or when seasoned users link to the howto in answer to a support request in the forum.
  2. Do you mean the top-level page?

Reply

• May 28, 2019 - 00:53

There are a few handbook pages with links to the how to's. There are even a few handbook pages that link to the forums because someone thought it should be done.

Reply

• May 28, 2019 - 19:43

Thanks everyone for your input. I wanted to be sure I was current with How-To use. I was surprised to see only two articles under 3.x and feared these were no longer relevant.

Reply

• May 28, 2019 - 19:47

Much of the 3.x effort to date has been to make it usable rather than things like How to's. Hopefully this will start to change in the next couple of months when we know version 3.1 is stable and we can take advantage of How to's to explain new features.

Reply

• May 28, 2019 - 20:08

Hmm. I do see the potential for some new user confusion here. With many platforms (e.g. Windows), support articles are identified by their relevance to a particular release. When I see an article for an earlier OS release, I presume it has not been updated, and is likely out-of-date. So I generally only look for current-release material.

From what you say, when a MuseScore user selects "any how-to" this means "show me how-tos that apply to any=all releases" -- as opposed to "show me how-tos that are specific to any release."

My instinct would be for us to try to update the earlier how-tos, and then flag them as part of the 3.x universe. But perhaps my own confusion on this is not typical.

Reply

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.