Instructions - mostly, they are rubbish.

[Throttled]

Fitted R&G crash bungs, mirror extenders and a Kayoko throttle control to the bike today. It took longer to work out the instructions, than it did to fit each one. Whoever wrote the instructions for the bungs and throttle control needs shooting. It was not bizarre English translations that were the problem, it was the wording and phraseology, where references were made to parts without saying which part was referred to.  Some YouTube videos made both clearer than the supplied instructions did, but many missed out parts of the fitting process.

 

I have recently built some flat pack furniture, some from Germany, some from Ikea. Whoever does the Ikea instructions is a God like genius in the world of writing instructions. They are the only ones that were clear and easy to follow. Relatives ran a translation business and their work has included instructions originally written in German, being translated into English, for military equipment. Getting it right was a matter of life and death. But, if something is not fitted to a bike properly, it could cause an accident, which is a matter of life and death.

 

Writing instructions is an art, that only Ikea has mastered.

 

 

 

 

[onesea]

Oh I love making idiots guides…

People used to know where I had worked because of them..

 

Put Cd in drive. Click ok - put kettle on.

Go back to computer, click yes enter password. Put water in cup.

Go back to computer, acknowledge changes.

Make your tea. Passing computer push ok - twice to start download.
Enjoy your cup of tea and 2 x cigarettes in smoking area.

Return to computer —-  Etc etc… 
 

[Throttled]

My experience of so many guides is that they miss out a step, where the writer assumes it is obvious to do something.

[Bender]

8 minutes ago, Throttled said:

My experience of so many guides is that they miss out a step, where the writer assumes it is obvious to do something.

Like step 1 read and understand the instructions before you start  

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

A lot of instructions don't use text just pictures, which aren't always obvious in their meaning, especially when it come to technology.

[Bender]

7 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

A lot of instructions don't use text just pictures, which aren't always obvious in their meaning, especially when it come to technology.

Our coffee machine came with pictorial instructions, completely useless  

 

It has one button and one light, light is red or green, you can push button once, think there were about 30 pictures, several of them with a finger  pushing the button accompanied with arrows pointing towards or away and a segmented section of varying degrees of completion, I put them in the bin, googled, watched a short youtube vid. 

 

3pics would have done, water, coffee, push button  

[Trooper74]

Manual ? .... who is this Spanish chap ? ... I’ll take no advice from a foreigner .... !

 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Trooper74

[MikeHorton]

What about instructioni? 

[Throttled]

My son has just finished his first solo build, an Ikea chest of drawers. He has Aspergers and finds the Ikea pictorial instructions easy to follow. He is chuffed to bits!

 

[fastbob]

In my job role I see so many of my colleagues , with the very best of intentions , struggle  to convey good  written instructions to our service users . It doesn't matter how knowledgeable someone is , if they can't communicate that knowledge then it is , unfortunately ,  worthless . I think this is where my  Asperger's Syndrome becomes a real asset because I'm acutely conscious of how easily the meaning of a set of instructions can be lost if just one word is badly chosen . 

Edited December 29, 2021 by fastbob

[fastbob]

These are the instructions I'm following at the moment . 

[MikeHorton]

6 hours ago, fastbob said:

These are the instructions I'm following at the moment . 

An Me262? 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I am hoping the YouTube video I've found telling me how to replace the hard drive in my laptop with a SSD work. Usually YouTube videos are a great way to learn new tricks. 

[dynax]

6 minutes ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

I am hoping the YouTube video I've found telling me how to replace the hard drive in my laptop with a SSD work. Usually YouTube videos are a great way to learn new tricks. 

 

Replacing the drive is the easy bit, getting it to work afterwards is the fun bit

[dynax]

I bought a new laptop a few weeks ago with an ssd hd, but as I am moving away from windows, it was a bit tricky to install Linux and had a few issues to overcome to get it to run properly, but i managed it in the end with a bit of patience and trying different settings in the bios

[fastbob]

3 hours ago, MikeHorton said:

An Me262? 

A 262 it is .

[TimR]

3 hours ago, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

I am hoping the YouTube video I've found telling me how to replace the hard drive in my laptop with a SSD work. Usually YouTube videos are a great way to learn new tricks. 

Only if the person hosting thevideo knows what they are doing and not doing a rehash of what they learnt from a you tube video / bloke down pub .

[fastbob]

17 hours ago, MikeHorton said:

An Me262? 

Getting there . Doing it Old School with a brush . 

[Throttled]

On 29/12/2021 at 00:54, fastbob said:

These are the instructions I'm following at the moment . 

 

I had forgotten about Airfix. Those instructions are also a great example of clarity and easy to follow.

[MikeHorton]

I've got the bug now but gone wooden!

[fastbob]

On 31/12/2021 at 22:11, MikeHorton said:

I've got the bug now but gone wooden!

Oh yeah ! What power ? 

[fastbob]

On 31/12/2021 at 20:15, Throttled said:

 

I had forgotten about Airfix. Those instructions are also a great example of clarity and easy to follow.

Interestingly , this is a Czech remould of a Heller kit so the instructions are completely symbolic but still easy to understand .  

 

[MikeHorton]

7 hours ago, fastbob said:

Oh yeah ! What power ? 

Just the standard rubber band. I may have a go at an rc one if this goes okay. More something to keep my mind active at home