Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2007 Issue

A Manual that Thinks the way You Think

Operator's Manual - always in the upper right corner

Operator's Manual - always in the upper right corner


By Bruce McKinney

AE is a complex site that includes many useful services and when you have the interest or the need you can master any of them quickly. We have issued an Operator's Manual to efficiently answer your questions. It's posted on the AE home page in the upper right corner as a link and can always be accessed there. We recognize the dual personality of a reference site. You may be using a single feature extensively and not quickly move beyond that specific function. But we offer extensive additional services as part of your subscription and want to make experimentation with these features easy and rewarding. How and when someone will be open to using new tools is uncertain. Our solution is an easily accessible, quickly read document that relies heavily on links and images. When a service or feature explanation is needed it's immediately found.

The Operator's Manual is deceptively short. It's only about three pages but contains 28 links to visual presentations and brief explanations that elaborate specific features. On the web images more effectively than words explain function because page layout varies from screen to screen according to the individual's operating system, internet browser and personal settings. When we look at the same book we all see the same book. When we look at something online it varies from computer to computer so seeing the explanation saves time. On line words divide, images unite.

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