Subject: Close and Exit
From: NW (neilwin@cableinet.co.uk)
Date: Thu Aug 23 2001 - 09:20:12 CDT
Here we go again,
As mentioned earlier I have had quite a lot of experience teaching word
processing to beginners and there was always a question about Close v
Exit.
They also often asked me to comment on using a WP, and to talk about
'best practice'. So I came up with this.
Let's say you have two letters to write. The old way with pen and paper
was something like this.
Take out your pen.
Take a piece of paper.
Write the letter.
Tidy it away, perhaps in an envelope.
Take another piece of paper.
Write the second letter.
Tidy it away.
Put away the pen.
Now using a computer, the pen becomes the word processing program. So
using the above pattern...
Start the wp program (take out your pen)
File/New (take a piece of paper)
Create the letter, save it and perhaps print.
File/Close (tidy it away)
File/New (a second piece of paper)
Create it ....
File/Close (tidy it away)
File/Exit (put away the pen).
Since I was normally using Word for Windows as the WP this worked fine
because 'Close' affects only documents and leaves the program running.
File/Exit was used at the very end only, to close down the WP program
when all the documents had been finished and closed.
All the students seemed to find this method very easy to learn because
to them it followed the way they would have done the same job with pen
and paper, and they were already used to that.
However with Abiword it is different because if you try to tidy away
your first (and only) document before starting the second one (using
Close) you find yourself back at the desktop. This to me is like being
forced to put away your pen when you have finished with a document even
though you may have more to do. Then you have to take your pen out again
before starting on the next letter.
To me it seems odd that, In Abiword, I have to open up a new blank
document ready for the second letter before I can safely close the first
one.
Up to now I have followed my own 'best practice' advice and I have been
cought out many times. The Abiword way of working to me is simply not
intuitive.
Neil Winchurst
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