Don’t live with bad software and other tips to improve your day
May 15, 2007 by Tris Hussey
Filed under Jobs
Sometimes I think software sucks. Yes I know I rely on it and am using it right now, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t piss me off royally sometimes. Well, there is something you can do about it. I found on CodeJacked their top 5 ways to get more out of your software.
1. Learn the Keyboard Shortcuts (and the Mouse Shortcuts)
2. Customize the Menus and the Keyboard Shortcuts
3. Read the Forums and the FAQs
4. Read the Tips-of-the-Day
5. Consider Buying the Pro Version
It does come down to the old geek saying, RTFM (read the frackin’ manual). If you take a little time (and sometimes very little time) to find the answer to a question, you’ll be amazed at what cool tricks you can do with your software.
As CodeJacked points out as well, don’t be afraid to e-mail the developers of the app, especially if it’s a small company. I’ve made a lot of good friends that way and helped them make the software better for all of us. Simple stuff like “you know if you changed the wording on that dialog, it would make a lot more sense” or “it would be great if I could…” and my fav “oops, found a bug”. Believe it or not developers appreciate being told that you found a bug, it helps them make better software. They can’t conceivable test every possible scenario and use case. With our help, software will just get better for all of us.
Tags: software tips
