Picking good software

How do you pick a good computer program?

Kenneth R. Wade, ministerial secretary, Southeast Asia Union Mission, Singapore, and former associate editor of Ministry.

How do you pick a good computer program? The first program I ever tried to learn to use on my personal computer almost persuaded me that computers were too complicated for me. Fortunately, the next program I tried proved much more user-friendly;'otherwise, my computer might have ended up stored in a dark closet.

Since then I've had opportunity to look at dozens of programs, and have developed somewhat of a connoisseur's taste. I hope the tastes I've acquired through the years can help you pick and choose among programs and find ones that will help rather than hinder your ministry. So here, and in my next column, I'll list characteristics that I think every program written for the average user should have.

1. Menu: Good multifunction pro grams (such as a data base program that will sort, print labels, and do many other functions) typically run from an opening menu that allows you to choose the function you want to perform by pressing one key. One-function programs such as word processors do not need a menu, but rather should allow you to go directly into editing a manuscript.

2. 'Manual: If the manual is hard to use, contains confusing terminology, is not adequately cross-referenced, or has an inadequate index, you'll spend hours trying to solve simple problems. The manuals I like best are divided into a teaching section and a reference section.

One I used recently raises usability to unexcelled heights by thorough cross-referencing. Each step in the learning section is referenced to a page in the reference section so if you have problems or want to know more about the function you are learning, you know just where to look.

3. Help: All good programs have readily accessible on-screen help, typically accessed by a function key.

Context-sensitive help, which tells of specific things you might want to do at the point you are in the program, is one good option. Equally good is a help menu that allows you to choose, by the touch of a key, what function you want help with.

4. Screen speed: By this I mean how fast the screen redraws itself as you move through a document you are working on.

When you go to the bottom of the screen and push the down arrow, does the entire screen slowly redraw itself, starting at the top and working down? Or does the material on the screen move like an inchworm up the screen, redrawing one line at a time? If the answer to either question is yes, you'll soon tire of watching the redraw. The entire screen should redraw at once, instantaneously, so that you are not even aware of the process.

5. Quick commands: Frequently used commands should not require more than one or two keystrokes. WordPerfect is an example of a good program that does poorly here. To save a document requires three strokes in response to questions that appear on the screen. To exit the program requires five. Personally I don't enjoy playing 20 questions when I want a program to do a simple task that ought to require only one keystroke.

6. Protection: The program ought to protect you from yourself and from machine failure as thoroughly as possible. It ought to automatically save your material to disk periodically, or at least ask you whether you want to save it. Otherwise you can lose a day's work to a minor power fluctuation.

I'll continue next time with more of my prejudices about what makes a good program.


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Kenneth R. Wade, ministerial secretary, Southeast Asia Union Mission, Singapore, and former associate editor of Ministry.

January 1988

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