European Instructions

[Dee2]

I hate it when I buy a tool and get the directions in European. You know the picture kind of instructions. It is always hieroglyphs to me. I just can't read them. But it seems to be the way of the future. Maybe I should try it:



What'cha think?

 

[Mike Davis]

I really like drawings, photos, and schematics, but only if they are done well.
A photo of the backside of a drawer won’t tell you where to place the pull.

 

[Hmerkle]

I really like drawings, photos, and schematics, but only if they are done well.
A photo of the backside of a drawer won’t tell you where to place the pull.

Mike I think if you and a few of your friends click on that picture and enter your credit card - you will know exactly where to place the pull... could be wrong, but it is worth a try!

 

[pop-pop]

I hate it when I buy a tool and get the directions in European. You know the picture kind of instructions. It is always hieroglyphs to me. I just can't read them. But it seems to be the way of the future. Maybe I should try it:

What'cha think?

Sometimes one sentence is worth a thousand pictures.

 

[Mike Davis]

Mike I think if you and a few of your friends click on that picture and enter your credit card - you will know exactly where to place the pull... could be wrong, but it is worth a try!

You should really post all the instructions, not just the first step.
I have bought all I can if I want to have gas money to drive to the picnic and back.

 

[teesquare]

Logistics.....

Whether you speak Chinese, Spanish, English or Arabic....we ALL can look at a picture and grasp the intent. It is a the one set of instructions that speaks ALL languages.
Aside from the pragmatics of "one printing for all languages"....this trend by manufacturers also speaks (sadly) to the lower percentage of literacy.

 

[tvrgeek]

Fahrenheit 451?

Granted, some companies are better at pictures than others. Also, some companies are better at written instructions than others. We used to have our secretaries go through the field maintenance procedures to see if they make sense to a reasonably intelligent person who did not have background knowledge. Age old problem. If I write about what I know about, I will leave out and assume things you may not know. Just the way the human race functions. Of course, then came 123 and Office so we no longer have secretaries.

Personally, I don't want a 50 page manual that has 2 pages in English, or some poorly translated facility. One could argue, just English, Mandarin, and Spanish would cover about 80% of the world in first or second language. Pictures close to 100%. Markets are international. According to WIKI, there are about 31,000 distinct languages in current use, and many more dialects.

 

[Dee2]

Seriously, thank you Mike. You always encourage me to think carefully. To wit:

Still, I would like to be able to emphasize the quantity must be <21 and, you must not get anxious and click the second "Save" more than one time. Help! [Word file available upon request].

To all: this post is really about buying raffle tickets not European instructions. But seriously, I have yet to find a good set. YMMV.

 

[Martin Roper]

There's a YouTube video for practically everything these days.

 

[JimD]

If you think you have seen poor instructions and you like airguns you should buy one from SnowPeak, a Chinese company. You get literally nothing. No instructions to explain how to fill it with air, load pellets into the magazine, nothing. All you get is a brochure promoting SPA airguns. So you have to go to on line forums and youtubes. They are nice and the prices are low so people, like me, still buy them.

To make this more woodworking related, here is a recent woodworking project, a cherry stock for one of my P35s.

 

[Oka]

- - It

Dee the

Seriously, thank you Mike. You always encourage me to think carefully. To wit:

View attachment 219037
Still, I would like to be able to emphasize the quantity must be <21 and, you must not get anxious and click the second "Save" more than one time. Help! [Word file available upon request].

To all: this post is really about buying raffle tickets not European instructions. But seriously, I have yet to find a good set. YMMV.