file extension SCM

Lotus ScreenCam

Major computer applications are now so complex and feature-rich that the user's need to quickly and correctly complete procedures is finally being recognized as a serious productivity issue. Word processors, spreadsheets, and databases, to name three of the biggies, are making increasingly extensive use of tutorials, demos, and wizards to enhance their on-line documentation. These can be both general and specific, addressing the needs of novices, converts from other applications, and experienced users trying to execute infrequently used commands. Demos and tutorials are usually passive and run from the help system while wizards are interactive and engage the application directly in the task.

While the future of desktop computing may be in docucentric, wizard and agent-driven objects, the present world requires us to figure out what we want to do in a given application, call that thing by its right name, look up how it's done (in print or on-line), absorb that information and then do it. Sometimes, but not all the time, watching a sequence of commands being executed can be a real help by showing us a path through a procedure. Developers and documentation staff must determine where to commit the programming and design resources to build these aids with one eye on the project budget and the other eye on their usability tests. Users must be willing to take the time to watch these demos and tutorials. Lotus ScreenCam is a tool for producing these types of presentations.