I'm a novice and not yet a listowner, still learning and exploring, but Doulgas Winship's (new) aside brought up a point that has been growing in my awareness. I don't know how technical writers are trained -- I am not one -- but a problem that seems consistent with almost all manuals I have ever read (SPSS being the notable exception, and that does way back to the early main- frame days), manuals are organized in terms of every possible command in every module of every program or package, and you are given specific instructions on how to use each command. This sounds perfectly rational, but any user new enough to the program to need a manual will tell you that's not how they think. New users think in terms of functions, of tasks that they need to perform, and they do NOT know the name of the command to do it. If they did they would have tried it! EXAMPLE: I want to make an exact copy of a screen so I can put it into my text. What do I look for -- Copy? Snapshot? Printscreen?Capture? etc. I would like to be able to llook under screen and screen image etc. and be led to the right command. My point is, it is often the expert user, who is familiar with the program in its real-life functions, who can make the best manual writer. I think it's a great idea, and I would love to see L-Soft and lots of other companies experiment with it. We might revolutionize Ye Olde Manual that most users stare at with equally blank expressions, cover open or closed. Just a thought, but I think Douglas is onto something. Cindy H-G Dr. Lucinda Hart-Gonzalez Foreign Service Institute National Foreign Affairs Training Center U.S. Department of State (speaking for myself not my agency) [log in to unmask]