"I've got a good idea," NO YOU DON'T!

[pdeeh]

"overcomplicated" is quite often shorthand for "I don't understand".
It isn't the same as "badly written"

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

The internet is a wonderful thing, unfortunately not everything to be found here is true.

That's true.

 

[tanner]

I think part of the problem comes from the marketing trend that everything new has to be even simpler and require even less understanding to use. People come to expect that if something doesn't happen as it should, it's not their fault for being ignorant, but someone else's fault for not making a sufficiently fool-proof product.

 

[grahamp]

Sometimes it is because the instructions assume some element of knowledge not explicitly provided - just look at some cookery books. Terminology is often unexplained because it is supposed to be learned elsewhere. In some ways photography resembles cookery - a set of ingredients combined is a prescribed way (with more or less variation) at a certain temperature (and all ovens are different).

Maybe this is too complicated?

 

[tanner]

If you don't even vaguely understand how a thing you're using works, no amount of instructions will get you out of trouble. Yes. a manual should aim to educate the user on such basics in addition to explaining the particulars of use. Would most people try to grasp it though, or would they just flip through to find the part that explains a particular area of struggle? I bet most would say to themselves "I'm an adult and I've been doing X for Y number of years. I don't need my hand held!" But at the same time they would expect that a good product is a simple product.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I find it is just better to avoid those threads. Some people just can't be helped because they only hear what they want to hear. There is also a lot of nonsense on the internet. Just because someone is commenting on a particular situation doesn't mean they have experience with it. That happens quite a lot unfortunately.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Sometimes it is because the instructions assume some element of knowledge not explicitly provided - just look at some cookery books. Terminology is often unexplained because it is supposed to be learned elsewhere. In some ways photography resembles cookery - a set of ingredients combined is a prescribed way (with more or less variation) at a certain temperature (and all ovens are different).

Maybe this is too complicated?

Having had some experience writing instructions I can say that it is not an easy task. There is a lower limit past which you cannot simplify any more and still have your explanation make sense. Unfortunately in today's anti science mentality things have dropped to a new low.

Speaking of cooking I wonder how many people know what "the holy trinity" is.

 

[markbarendt]

Yep, holy trinity:
Nikon 18-35, 28-70, and 70-200
ED IF AF F/2.8

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

Having had some experience writing instructions I can say that it is not an easy task. There is a lower limit past which you cannot simplify any more and still have your explanation make sense. Unfortunately in today's anti science mentality things have dropped to a new low.

Speaking of cooking I wonder how many people know what "the holy trinity" is.

mirepoix

 

[rwreich]

Yep, holy trinity:
Nikon 18-35, 28-70, and 70-200
ED IF AF F/2.8

Um, the true Holy Trinity is the set of Nikon 14-24, 24-70, & 70-200 f/2.8 G series lenses.

 

[Kawaiithulhu]

By holy trinity you mean "The Camera," "The Negative," and "The Print" by Saint Ansel, right?