12.5 ARCHITECT

[kellhammer]

I recently purchased a copy of ARCHITECT 12.5. Why did I recieve two text manuals. Fundamentals and DESIGN series. Did they do away with the ARCHITECT manual? This is something that has confused me about the software are the half dozen different titles Are they all different? Is Fundamentals a stand alone program?

[Robert Anderson]

Architect is one of the "Design Series" which includes Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, and Machine Design. The manuals for all these 4 products were consolidated (as there was some feature overlap and it made sense from a printing-production point of view.) There is a little icon-legend in each section of the manual that displays which feature applied to which product.

[jnr]

Robert,

Unfortunately while it might have made sense to save on printing costs, it is a train wreck for users, especially those of use who pay our new employees while they are learning the software and wading thru the mess that has become the manual. Software is only as good as the manuals it comes with, and this is just a bad move for everyone. Consolidation of the Design series into a single manual has mucked up what worked quite well in the past. It gets even worse when browsing through the manual on-line. Searching for topics within one's own industry (aka the only thing that is relevant to the user) is now cluttered with irrlevant info and topics that have no bearing on the user. Architects searching for lighting solutions, have no use for info on Gobos and I'm sure Lighting Designers don't need to be confused by Architect specific lighting solutions, espeically if it does not ship with one's product. Do what other software companies do and charge for the printed version. But give us what we need not what confuses us or satisfies the technical writers. They are not the ones on the front line nor do they bear the expense of training.

[kellhammer]

Yes, I also find the consolidation a troublesome read

Edited June 25, 2007 by kellhammer