1-Visitor

Question

Pro/E help...yet again.

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
December 12, 2011
27 replies
11246 views

I know this may be a bit of a rant, but I strongly believe there is a fundamental lack of attention to a very critical issue all us "Pro/E and Creo"Users continue to face. I felt a post on the CAD forum was appropriate.For me, Igave up on asking for "help" from PTC resourcesover 15 years ago. I still look down at my shoes and shake my head each timeI encounter the lack "Help"within our software.

Look at the attached image and tell me why we continue to accept such unacceptable things like this?

This is not an isolated issue. You can find Help road blocks EVERYWHERE within the Help Center. In many cases we are given directions to a road that no longer exists! in this case, this is"OLD Pro/E" directions.This have been an issue since the very first day I started on Pro/E....that was 1989! My blood pressure just climbed up 50 points.

PTC, why, why, why do we have to live with a software that is NEVER complete or correct? Functioning "Help" is the lifeblood of any software. Do you wonder why Solidworks is eating your lunch? This is but ONE ofmany reasons. What good is all the "New Hotness" if we can't figure out how to use it? Is there a method to this continued madness? Please enlighten us all why this is so.

A (very old and worn out) suggestion: Start spending a healthy portion of everyone's maintenance dollars to make certain the Help Center actually Helps us.

D

DeanLong

Author

1-Visitor

People....

I have already begun to get responses that I need to be in the Annotate Tab. This, being a Pro/EUser,I know already.....

Please do not miss the point of my previous post. Help needs to be

D

DonSenchuk

12-Amethyst

Great point.

Another place I find something similar is in the message line prompts. Long-time users very often ignore these, but trying to teach new users (or show users a better way of doing things) brings the lack of clear instruction in the message line prompts glaring to life. I know that too many times when a new user has asked me "How would I know to do what you just told me?" or "How did you know to do that?", my only answer is "Experience." Pretty lame, if you ask me.

P

ptc-593619

1-Visitor

A great example of just that is blanking a cell border line in a table.
Experienced users know that "query" "Table" opens the "line display"
menu under the "Table" menu. If you didn't know that it'd take you all
day to find it. I'm sure that everyone has their favorite ProE "quirk"!
I particularly like the fact that "Insert Mode" is not under the
"Insert" menu but in "Edit" "Feature Operations". This for WF3 BTW

Richard A. Black

Lead Design Engineer

Eaton Corporation

440 Murray Hill Road

Southern Pines

NC 28387 USA

S

sneg3691

1-Visitor

Tis a game folks..PTC is not ignorant..there're wanting to keep you out of
the know how.. keeps you coming back to training classes is the thought
process .tis their bread and butter.

Regards

_____

J

JimBarrettSmith

5-Regular Member

Don

I just took a look at help files in Creo 1.0 M020

The help file looks accurate and the learning connector provides a
tutorial, suggestions for PTCU and topics from the knowledge base.

Hope that helps

Jim

D

DonSenchuk

12-Amethyst

Did you look at Dean's screen capture?

Your post also seems like a "missing the forest for the trees". Per Dean's second post, it's not just about how to make a symbol. It's about how much improvement the "Help" files could stand to see. I simply added on that very often the message line prompts are lacking clear -- or sometimes any -- direction for users to reference.

In Reply to Jim Barrett-Smith:

Don

I just took a look at help files in Creo 1.0 M020

The help file looks accurate and the learning connector provides a
tutorial, suggestions for PTCU and topics from the knowledge base.

Hope that helps

Jim

M

mreece

1-Visitor

If they only had the training classes I need! This issue is not a Pro/E-Creo issue with bad help. The help in Windchill is just as bad (or worse)! And PTC doesn't have the training classes for me to take!!!

J

JimBarrettSmith

5-Regular Member

Don

The points I took from the post were as follows

1) The help files are not accurate

2) The help files are not simple to understand

3) The help files do not help new users

4) Maintenance money should be spent improving the help content

5) PTC are not being helpful because they want to generate training
revenue

So my post via a screen grab was addressing the points but obviously not
very well so let me have another go

1) The help files are not accurate

(a) The help files look accurate to me based on the example provide
by you, if there are other instances please contact tech support and
file a spr so they can be improved.

2) The help files are not simple to understand

(b) In the learning connector on the right hand side the user is
provided with multiple forms of information to improve the learning
experience

i.
Video tutorial on how to use the functionality and automatically
selected when you pick the command

ii.
Training information available in PTCU

iii.
Topics on the selected command that are available in the knowledge base

3) The help files do not help new users

(c) As above the learning connector is designed to help new and
existing customers - please test the learning connector and provide
feedback

4) Maintenance money should be spent improving the help content

(d) The Learning connector available in Creo 1 M020 is an example of
how PTC is developing new tools to improve the help content and its
delivery

5) PTC are not being helpful because they want to generate training
revenue

(e) Yes we want our users to proficient with the tools hence we are
improving the access to paid and free content.

If I am still missing the point of the post then please let me know

Thanks

Jim

D

DonSenchuk

12-Amethyst

I didn't provide an example.

While I agree with Dean's assessment of the Help files, I only mentioned the message window prompts within Pro/E and their lack of clarity or lack of existence.

Thanks for taking the time to post that information. It's good to see effort is being made to improve in this area (considering the version we run doesn't have anything resembling a "Learning Connector").

I didn't mention anything about maintenance money and what it is spent on.

In Reply to Jim Barrett-Smith:

Don

The points I took from the post were as follows

1) The help files are not accurate

2) The help files are not simple to understand

3) The help files do not help new users

4) Maintenance money should be spent improving the help content

5) PTC are not being helpful because they want to generate training
revenue

So my post via a screen grab was addressing the points but obviously not
very well so let me have another go

1) The help files are not accurate

(a) The help files look accurate to me based on the example provide
by you, if there are other instances please contact tech support and
file a spr so they can be improved.

2) The help files are not simple to understand

(b) In the learning connector on the right hand side the user is
provided with multiple forms of information to improve the learning
experience

i.
Video tutorial on how to use the functionality and automatically
selected when you pick the command

ii.
Training information available in PTCU

iii.
Topics on the selected command that are available in the knowledge base

3) The help files do not help new users

(c) As above the learning connector is designed to help new and
existing customers - please test the learning connector and provide
feedback

4) Maintenance money should be spent improving the help content

(d) The Learning connector available in Creo 1 M020 is an example of
how PTC is developing new tools to improve the help content and its
delivery

5) PTC are not being helpful because they want to generate training
revenue

(e) Yes we want our users to proficient with the tools hence we are
improving the access to paid and free content.

If I am still missing the point of the post then please let me know

Thanks

Jim