Closed Bug 89889 Opened 23 years ago Closed 23 years ago

Problems with Bookmarks content in Help

Categories

(Documentation Graveyard :: Help Viewer, defect)

x86
Windows 98
defect
Not set
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

VERIFIED FIXED

People

(Reporter: bugzilla, Assigned: jatin)

Details

> You access your bookmarks through the bookmarks menu

What about the Bookmarks sidebar panel and the manager?

> You can control what's listed in the bookmarks menu, by adding bookmarks for
> your favorite web pages and organizing your list of bookmarks any way you want.

That comma after "menu" is extraneous (and possibly incorrect).  This is an
awkward sentence, however.  It furthers the idea that the only way to access
your bookmarks are through the menu, and it creates a too tight connection
between bookmarks and the bookmarks menu.  The menu is just another way to
display the bookmarks.

>     *  To add a bookmark right to the Bookmarks menu

Once again, please don't act as if the menu is the only access point for
bookmarks.  Also, the user probably won't get the use of the phrase "right to",
because nowhere in Help is the File Bookmark dialog displayed.

> drag the bookmark tag next to the URL

Earlier we called this an icon, and specified its location -- "next to the URL
in the Location bar". We should do the same here.

> * You can add add a bookmark to the personal toolbar or to a folder on the 
>   personal toolbar.

The word "add" is repeated, but I don't understand this sentence anyways. 
First, of course you can add a bookmark to the personal toolbar -- we just said
how to do that in the previous sentence.  And if we're going to say you can add
a bookmark to a folder on the personal toolbar, let's specify how.

>     * select the Bookmarsk tab, and drag the bookmark tag next to the URL

Typo, should be "Bookmarks".  Once again, don't say "tag" (what does that even
mean?), say "icon" as we did previously, and specify which URL (the one in the
Location bar).

However, there is a serious problem in this section that's certain to confuse
the user.  It explains how to add a bookmark to the Bookmarks menu, the Personal
toolbar, and the Bookmarks sidebar tab, which implies that each is a different
list -- *that is not the case*. For example, if you add a bookmark to the
sidebar, it's going to show up in the menu, and vice versa.  They're just
different access points. This really needs to be fixed...

> Then do any of the following tasks in the Manage Bookmarks window.

Nearly everywhere else, we say "perform one of the following steps" (a phrase
that I personally feel is awkward, but we have to be consistent).

>     *  Click the open/close triangles at the left of each folder to view its 
>        contents.

Let's let them know they can double click the item as well, no?  Also, it's a
bad idea to say "triangles", because in the next release, these will look like
the normal win32 +/- in the Windows Classic skin.  This doesn't need to be fixed
now, however.

>     *  Click to highlight the bookmark or folder that you want to move, and 
>        drag the item to the new location.

Clicking and dragging are two separate actions.  We're telling the user here to
click an item, and then drag it. This is unnecessary.  Since we assume that he
understands the dragging action elsewhere, let's remove the click part here.

>     *  In the Manage Bookmarks window, click New Folder or New Separator.

We already said "do one of the following tasks in the Manage Bookmarks window".
To specify the window again here is redundant.  I assume the intention is that
the other actions mentioned can also be done in the Bookmarks tab of My Sidebar;
 if so, we then need to clarify the "do one of..." line.

>    1. Press the Delete key on your keyboard, or click Delete in the Manage 
>       Bookmark window.

Elsewhere, we only said "Press the Delete key on your keyboard".  Let's be
consistent in mentioning the ways to delete.  Personally, however, I don't think
we should bother mentioning the Delete button, because then we might as well say
"or right click and choose Delete, or choose Delete from the Edit menu."  If we
are going to mention it, we should clarify that it's a button, and we'll also
have to explain why the user might not see it (if he hid the toolbar).

More to come.
> When you create a new bookmark, Netscape 6 normally adds it to the bottom of 
> your bookmarks list. If you prefer to file your bookmarks in a folder, you can 
> designate a new bookmarks folder.

I think we really need to make it clear that that's a permanent solution, i.e.
all new bookmarks will be added in that folder if you do that.  6.1 offers a
great new temporary solution: File Bookmark...  Can we please document this
dialog also, and include a screenshot of it?

Also, we really should tell users how to undo the bookmark folders change if
they later desire.  Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to do this. (I thought
it would be to set the root bookmark folder as the new bookmarks folder, but the
root folder seems to have disappeared...?)

>    1. In the Properties window, click the General Information tab.

This tab is now just called "Info"

> A bookmark's keyword can be typed into the location field to go to the 
> bookmarked site.)

I'm very pleased to see that we do have basic keyword coverage!  This is a very
powerful feature, and there's much more to it.  It should be in its own header.
 "location field" should be "Location bar".

Scheduled notifications also deserve its own heading, and we should explain all
aspects of it (like, how you know if a bookmark has changed -- it will have a
special icon).  Talk to Ben for in-depth information about the feature.

> Tip:: If the list is hard to read, try expanding the Search Bookmarks/History
> window.

Typo, there should only be one colon.  Also, as I mentioned elsewhere, bookmarks
and history search are no longer available in one window; it's now two separate
dialogs.  So just change "Search Bookmarks/History" to "search results".

> Exporting or Importing a Bookmark List (Advanced Feature)

What is the point of saying "Advanced Feature"?  What does it add?  It's also a
departure from the standard we've established that clicking on a link in a
section TOC takes you to a header of the same name (in this case, "(Advanced
Feature)" is not in the TOC).

> You can also import bookmarks files from other sources, such as friends, 
> earlier Netscape versions, or other browsers.

Umm...this just sounds weird, as if you can choose "Friend" in the Import dialog
:-)  Is there a better way we could phrase this?  Or is this even necessary,
since we can just say that bookmarks can be any HTML file, so we don't falsely
limit the possible sources?

> Note: Importing a bookmark file imports the bookmarks and folders from that
>       file. It does not create two bookmark files.

So it just adds the bookmarks to the currently existing ones, right?  It doesn't
replace them?  If so, can we clarify that to nervous users?  If not, we need to
warn users of the dataloss.

>    1.  Go to the directory that contains Netscape 6 on your computer, and find
>        the Users subdirectory.

Typo, should be "subdirectory".  Could we do something cool, like provide a link
to click on that would open the folder (just on Windows, perhaps)?  Surely we
know where we're installed, and this is a chrome file, so we have enough
permissions.

However, I'm very confused -- what are these steps for?  Why do you have to
manually replace it?  This needs to be explained.
Sorry, my bad -- you did clarify that importing simply adds the bookmarks.

> If you have designated a new bookmark folder, the imported bookmark file is
> added to that folder.

That's a bit confusing: the file itself isn't added.  Can we say "the imported
bookmarks are added to that folder"?  Also, can we make "designated a new
bookmark folder" (or just "new bookmark folder") a link to the information about
how to set a folder as the new bookmark folder?  Cross-topic referencing is what
makes help great, and it's so easy for us...

I'm still confused about those manual instructions, and Help doesn't seem to
explain what you're doing there or why you're doing it.
Dumping all these on jatin, their rightful owner. Weeeeee!!
Assignee: oeschger → jatin
Component: Help → User
Product: Browser → Documentation
Version: other → unspecified
Fixed already.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 23 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Verified
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
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