Re: Re: MicroWorlds Instruction Book/Help Resources

[WendyPetti@xxxx]

In a message dated 4/16/01 11:06:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
dajoy@xxxx writes:

> Are you aware of the pdf files that come in the Microworlds Pro CD?
> 
> What is that about Microworlds and spreadsheets?

In the Documents folder of the MW Pro CD, there are two PDF files, and 
neither contains a listing of the primitives with brief explanations. One of 
the files, called "Learning," is a collection of projects to guide one 
through learning how MicroWorlds works. The other, called "Tips," is a 
collection of 23 tips on maximizing one's use of MicroWorlds. I believe that 
one or both of these guides are also provided in print when one purchases the 
full retail version of MW Pro. It seems to me like a glaring deficiency not 
to have included at the very least a third PDF file called "Help" or "User's 
Manual" to serve as a well-indexed reference. That is why Dale and I and 
others continue to rely on the User's Manual that LCSI has supplied with 
earlier versions of MicroWorlds (at least to purchasers of the retail 
version... but they supply no print materials to purchasers of the 
reduced-price MicroWorlds which site-licensed schools are authorized to sell 
to their own community of users).

And even if they did provide a PDF Help Manual, it is extremely clumsy to 
flip to a particular page and then flip back to the Table of Contents or the 
index, etc., the way one can quickly thumb through a book. And it is 
expecting a lot of people to print out their own manual of 200+ pages, which 
would fill a substantial notebook when printed on regular printer paper on 
single sides. Their earlier User's Manual was very compact and comprehensive.

About MicroWorlds and spreadsheets: Read Tip 23 in the "Tips" PDF file for 
information on how to integrate the use of an Excel spreadsheet with MW Pro. 
The example provided explains how to use an Excel spreadsheet to record coin 
flips which are randomly generated through a coin-flipping simulation 
procedure in MW Pro. There is also some well-buried information in the 
online Help of MW Pro: From the pull-down Help menu you open 
"Help Topics" --> 
"Interesting Concepts and Techniques" -->
"Programming Techniques" -->
"Communicating with Microsoft Excel Using MicroWorlds."

Nowhere in the "MicroWorlds Pro Fundamentals" section is there a mention of 
this interesting capability of MW Pro. It takes a highly-motivated user to 
stumble onto the material. I had to dig hard to locate it, even though I 
knew it was there. Again, if they provided a reference manual, such 
information would be much easier to find and use and would become another 
selling point for their product. Their strange little unlabelled icons in 
the online Help also disguise the fact that one can access all of the 
primitives by clicking on the second or third icons in the top right corner 
of the documentation. (The first icon is the Help Topics, the second icon 
takes one to a hyperlinked listing of primitives organized by category, and 
the third icon takes one to an alphabetical listing.)

By the way, one more thing about MW Pro and spreadsheets: this capability is 
not available when you post projects online.

Wendy