Chuckle and Newbies

Hello all,

Sitting here laughing at myself so I thought I'd share..

When I lived on this group (as opposed to lurking , one of the things
that frustrated me daily, was the number of people who asked for help
but didn't provide enough information for anyone to help them.

So we'd sit there and think "I'd love to help you - but you're not
making it easy". And a handful of posts would go back and forth, when it
really should have taken much less effort and frustration for all parties.

So here I was with a design problem with no answer , and as I'm
writing a post, taking the time to detail the dilemma - the answer comes
to me. >insert forehead smack here< TADA! Not the first time it's happened.

So have a chuckle on me. And if you're new to the list, please do take
the time to explain your problem. Program version, operating system,
whether you're using frames, templates, tables, layers, flex etc. Taking
a moment to be clear in your question, will go along way in ensuring
prompt relevant assistance.

Cheers!
CeCelia
--
The Honor System Works .. When You Work With Those With Honor
If I never got in over my head, I'd still be wading ;-)

aye lass, aye.
"Ms CBarnes" <donteven (AT) spamme (DOT) com> wrote

Hello all,

Sitting here laughing at myself so I thought I'd share..

When I lived on this group (as opposed to lurking , one of the things
that frustrated me daily, was the number of people who asked for help
but didn't provide enough information for anyone to help them.

So we'd sit there and think "I'd love to help you - but you're not
making it easy". And a handful of posts would go back and forth, when it
really should have taken much less effort and frustration for all parties.

So here I was with a design problem with no answer , and as I'm
writing a post, taking the time to detail the dilemma - the answer comes
to me. >insert forehead smack here< TADA! Not the first time it's
happened.

So have a chuckle on me. And if you're new to the list, please do take
the time to explain your problem. Program version, operating system,
whether you're using frames, templates, tables, layers, flex etc. Taking
a moment to be clear in your question, will go along way in ensuring
prompt relevant assistance.

Cheers!
CeCelia
--
The Honor System Works .. When You Work With Those With Honor
If I never got in over my head, I'd still be wading ;-)

But to be fair, sometimes if you're having a problem you may not know what
the relevent information is. You may think it's a problem with JavaScript
when in fact it's an HTML issue. Or vice versa. So the best thing to do is
to include a URL to a page where the problem may be observed in captivity.
Even better is to make a sample page that you have reduced to the simplest
example which still shows the problem. I know that I've sometimes looked at
pages and just given up because of the complexity of the scripts and/or HTML
structures. (Another benefit is that in the process of reducing the page to
its simplest form you may discover where the problem is.)

Market your problem. There are a lot of people in this forum with all sorts
of expertise, but we are all volunteers and our time here is limited. So
make your problem stand out from the rest. Don't use a message header like
"HHHEEELLLPPP!!!" or "Please help a newbie." A lot of people will just skip
such a message. Use the message header to state the problem so that those
who might help will know if they should read it or not. For example "Image
rollover works in every browser except IE5/Mac" or "100% height table does
not fill browser window" are headers that summarise the problem so that
anyone can decide whether or not this is a problem they may be able to help
with.

In your message restate the problem in more detail if needed, and describe
what you have already done to try to fix it. There are two reasons for this:
it helps the reader to know what possible solutions may be eliminated from
consideration so they don't have to retrace your steps, and shows you have
made a good faith effort to solve the problem on your own.

Include a full URL to the problem page, or, ideally, a simplified version of
it. By "full URL" I mean one that starts with "http://". This will become a
clickable link in most newsreaders and make it easy and tempting to go and
look at your page. If you include just something like www.mydomain.com,
people will have to copy and paste the URL into their browsers. It may seem
like a small thing, but there are a lot of questions asked here every day,
and even the small effort of having to copy and paste the URL may be enough
to cause someone to move on to the next question. And some refuse to do this
at all. Make it easy to get to your page. The easier it is, the more likely
someone will find the solution you are looking for.

If someone finds the anser to your problem, let them know by thanking them.
This is just a good thing to do for its own sake, of course, but you should
also be aware that this newsgroup is archived, and many people read the
message threads days or even weeks after they are posted. A quick
"Thanks--that worked!" will let them know that the proffered solution was
correct. No response leaves them wondering if the problem was fixed or not.

-- James M. Shook
http://www.jshook.com

James M. Shook wrote:
[snip]

In your message restate the problem in more detail if needed, and
describe what you have already done to try to fix it. There are two
reasons for this: it helps the reader to know what possible solutions
may be eliminated from consideration so they don't have to retrace
your steps, and shows you have made a good faith effort to solve the
problem on your own.
[snip]

And if you have validated your HTML / CSS, which is a good idea anyway, say
so, for the same reasons.

--
Barry Pearson
http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/
http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/
http://www.ChildSupportAnalysis.co.uk/

Barry Pearson wrote:

And if you have validated your HTML / CSS, which is a good idea
anyway, say so, for the same reasons.

Ah, but then again newbies have no idea about validation right?

James had some very good points too - and hopefully they have been read !
(but I doubt it actually).........

--
Nadia
~~~~~~~
http://www.DreamweaverResources.com
Dreamweaver Templates: Free NavBar Menu Sets:
Ecommerce & CMS:

Nadia Perre wrote:

Barry Pearson wrote:

And if you have validated your HTML / CSS, which is a good idea
anyway, say so, for the same reasons.

Ah, but then again newbies have no idea about validation right?

True! I didn't start using DOCTYPE, and hence couldn't validate, until little
more than a year ago - yet I first wrote web pages in about 1995/6! It is easy
for something like that to remain just out of your consciousness.

James had some very good points too - and hopefully they have been
read ! (but I doubt it actually).........

He had some excellent points - I just thought I would add to one of them.

It is hard to get into the mind of a beginner and understand what they can
absorb and what will overload them. It isn't about intelligence - simply about
what foundation they already have that they can add new concepts to. James
gave a step-by-step approach which didn't demand much prior knowledge.

--
Barry Pearson
http://www.Barry.Pearson.name/photography/
http://www.BirdsAndAnimals.info/
http://www.ChildSupportAnalysis.co.uk/