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Lack of documentation
mikesoneill
Junior Member
Unless I'm missing something there is very little documentation on how to use this software. Is it just a matter of working with it until you figure out how to use it?
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Have you looked at Help and followed the tutorial?Flag 0
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I was just about to make a post of a similar sentiment, but put it as a question ... where can I find some documentation?
[quote name='NovaScotian']Have you looked at Help and followed the tutorial?[/QUOTE]
An issue with this medium of communication is that one can appear rude or ungrateful,. Thank you all who reply to us newbies.
However, I must say that the help files are awful. They read like advertiser's copy, they sound exciting but explain little.
For example, In the vault section, there are something labelled 'Accounts'. These are distinct from Logins. Try looking up 'Accounts' in the help ... see what I mean, now try any of the items in the vault ... where does a newbie start? ...
By randomly adding entries I suppose ... I can add an 'Account' and see a list of 'account types'. Each of these seem to have different fields. Are they documented somewhere or do I have to try each one and make notes? The generic one seems to only give two fields (generic usually means jack of all trades and I would have expected many redundant field options here).
The 3-minute 'exert guide' is shallow and there is nothing to supplement it. The tutorials are OK if that is what you want to do but there is no mention of an overview of the interface, the paradigms behind the software etc. Please, do not take this as just a rant .. go take a look and see what I mean.
Is there a wiki somewhere?
Are there any videos?
My intention is to draw attention to the poor (IMHO) help systems with the hope that the user experience can be improved for new users. I am a great fan of companies that develop software through asking users and public betas. I consier this post as part of that process, feedback on a newbie encountering the help system. BTW. check out [url]http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001313.html[/url] or [url]http://successfulsoftware.net/2007/08/07/if-you-arent-embarrassed-by-v10-you-didnt-release-it-early-enough/[/url] to see where I am coming from in terms of the user's contribution to the development of software.
Regards
Martin.Flag 0 -
I second the motion.
I find no mention of the intened purpose of "accounts"
Thanks in advance.Flag 0 -
Accounts are general items for which you need a username and/or password but that aren't web site logins. A perfect example of this is a server or an encrypted disk image. For example, I use Knox volumes to store some of my data, and I use 1Password's Accounts vault to store the passwords for them that 1Password has generated for me.
Your feedback about our documentation is most gratefully received. I agree wholeheartedly and apologise for the confusion you're experiencing. As people who are very close to the application, it's sometimes difficult to put ourselves in a new user's shoes and write material targeted to that experience. To be honest, we've got lots of ideas on improving our approach and creating some material that you'll find useful and that will address precisely the concerns you've expressed. We just haven't had the time to implement those ideas yet. Now that 1Password 3 is out the door, we feel that we've got a lot of spring cleaning to do (even though it's autumn/winter here in North America), both in terms of the application and our documentation. We are working on this and will communicate our progress to you via Twitter and Facebook, our blog and our forums:
[url]http://twitter.com/1Password[/url]
[url]http://facebook.com/1Password[/url]
The publication of a new document or tutorial is likely something that will go out first (and possibly only) on Twitter and Facebook, with major overhauls or the publication of a video, perhaps, also being announced on the blog and forums. We want you guys to say in the know, but we also don't want to clutter every possible communication channel. Short Twitter and Facebook status updates are wonderful for this kind of thing. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel:
[url]http://www.youtube.com/user/AgileWebSolutions[/url]
I know that video isn't the answer to everything, and many of our customers want clear-cut, step-by-step, [b]written[/b] instructions. We will be working on both in the coming weeks and months.Flag 0 -
[quote name='Folbo']An issue with this medium of communication is that one can appear rude or ungrateful,. Thank you all who reply to us newbies.[/QUOTE]
I hope you don't mean that my suggestion to look at the Help files was intended to be rude, Martin. You'd be amazed at how many folks virtually never click on the Help menu, probably because in general they are lousy as you suggest. I meant no disrespect, however.
I think a key element of your concern, that I share with you, is that while you can readily see the potential for 1Password in your daily life, you'd like to use it as it was [I][U]intended[/U][/I] to be used by its developers; you'd like to know something of the philosophy underlying its design. Perhaps if I give my view of things it will start a conversation with Gita to clarify.
In the "Vault" section of the left-hand column of the GUI there are 6 "folders" listed. "Logins" is fairly straight-forward as is "Identities" (although I can't imagine what I'll use it for). Where things get vague for me, however, are with the remaining items: "Accounts", "Secure Notes", "Software", and "Wallet". These have differing GUI appearance, but there's no indication that they actually function any differently. To confuse matters further, there doesn't appear to be a way to drag an entry from one of those categories to another. In my case, for example, using an earlier version of 1P, I created a "Secure Note" containing the license for a piece of software. Now, I'd like to put that in "Software", but don't know how to.
Here's what I've got in them, and would love to be able to reorganize.
[U]Accounts[/U]: data for email accounts that I need to tell Mail what to do. The password for a restricted RSS feed required occasionally by NetNewsWire. The username and password of a DNS account, and details for my Cable Modem.
[U]Secure Notes[/U]: the registration for three pieces of software, and details for several bank cards.
[U]Software[/U]: the 1Password3 License and details. I'd love to transfer all my license data here.
[U]Wallet[/U]: A repeat and expansion of data for several bank cards, several bank accounts, the password for a document storage locker, and my Canadian Automobile Association membership details.
Taken together that arrangement doesn't really make much sense, does it? If I knew what was intended and had the means to rearrange it, I might do it differently. What keeps me from complaining, however, is that the "Logins" portion of 1P is so incredibly useful to me, getting me secure entry to online banking, a brokerage, etc.
Finally, how to search for stuff: Click on the expansion triangle for "Folders" in the left-hand column, then select "All", and then do your search. It'll be found no matter where you've put it.Flag 0 -
I, too, have always been frustrated by the lack of documentation of 1Password. Don't get me wrong, I love the app; but I often feel "lost" when using it. For example, I have never been able to figure out the distinctions between the different "Account" Types (does "iTunes Account" have some special status when visiting the App Store in iTunes?).
More significantly, I have always been frustrated trying to figure out a folder/organizational structure for all of my data. I thought I had a workable solution, but when I sync'ed my data to the iPhone app, I realized there was too little information in the "Title" (imagine picking the right item out of a list of 12 accounts entitled "e-mail" -- the organization was in the folders and "username" field!).
I *am* frustrated by the lack of documentation; but only because I think 1Pwd can be so much more useful if I could figure out how to use it correctly.
Unfortunately, it appears to have been another 6 months since this thread was started, and the situation has not changed. It's time to get serious about this: if you intend to fill-out the documentation, set a schedule and make it happen; if you don't, it simply wont happen.Flag 0 -
We still have a long ways to go in the documentation arena. We're a small staff doing support (forums and email), documentation, running an online store, doing development on the software packages themselves, "trying" to keep up with Apple and just generally running a business. There is a lot of information here in the forums to fill out sections where the online documentation might be weak and yet many customers never visit here. Many customers never visit the online documentation either and instead focus here in the dynamic nature of the forums. And we have customers that have never seen either resource. We try to pull from all these places when it comes to helping our customers.
I cannot say when, if every, the documentation will have everything to know about 1Password. We do listen to what's being asked about the most often and get those written up both here and in the documentation: most often as a FAQ. With your frustration in our apparent lack of progress, do you have particular things about 1Password that you feel would have been (or perhaps today) helpful to you? Gita and NovaScotian have made a good dent in how some of the templates in the Accounts vault might be used. Was that useful to you? When the words are written out and no one says it was helpful then we don't know how valuable it might be to commit them to the documentation. Please let us know.Flag 0 -
I started using 1Password about 2 years ago, shortly after I became a Mac convert. It's saved me a ton of time. Funny how I trust this app so much, but wouldn't dare to trust such a tool on a Windoze PC. LOL
To those who have found it confusing and have gone looking for documentation, I mean no disrespect in saying that I personally have never found a need to use the documentation. I think the app is well-written and well laid-out to be quite intuitive and straightforward. I don't consider myself better than anyone else. I'm just sharing my experience.
Maybe it's just in how I use it. I very seldom add new logins directly to 1Password via the app itself. I almost always use my browser to do that as part of logging in to a given website. And in that respect it becomes super easy.
I have only a few Wallet entries, but they come in VERY handy, esp if I'm away from my physical wallet ;)
I use the Accounts option to work with my Amazon S3 account.
I use the Software option to enter all my software serial numbers. That's become invaluable!
The Secure Notes are handy just to jot down the odd thing like an old WEP key that doesn't really suit being a Login entry, or a few other things I write that I like to keep private.
And it's also handy to auto-generate strong passwords when I need 'em.
I think the only time I ever might have looked for documentation was way back before the "Software" option was a separate thing ... and I'm very glad they split it off into its own feature.
I'm sure there are tons of things 1Password can do that I've not even uncovered yet, and I suppose if there were a formal manual that enumerated all those things and how to use them, I might utilize it even more. But it's not something I'm disgruntled about.
Thanks again for a great app!Flag 0
