ocathain.ie/articles/why-i-love-manuals.org

#+TITLE: Why I Love: Manuals
#+DATE: <2024-02-23 Fri>
#+DESCRIPTION: Manuals. They tell you things.
I love manuals. I absolutely love them. I've been fascinated with them for as
long as I can remember, although that's not very far. The question becomes, of
course, why do I love them?

* Part One: Those Darn Video Games
My obsession with the paper tomes started with video game manuals. I have vivid
memories of sitting in the back of the car with a brand new game, likely gotten
for my birthday, and just poring over the manual again and again and again,
eagerly seeking out tidbits of lore, mechanics, hints, artwork, diagrams. Most
often these were Nintendo DS or Wii manuals. I'd often have read them a hundred
times before I even got out of the car to get to play it.

There's something special to me about those manuals. Big titles for these
consoles often had big manuals, often with custom artwork, theming based around
the game, and hints and tricks spread throughout. Smaller titles were often a
much more utilitarian affair, simple black and white text arranged neatly on the
thin paper.

I loved being able to digest the information in such a simple way. It was
relaxing, simply letting myself absorb information, and on rare occasions,
actually checking them in order to find a button combination or a helpful map.

I used to just read them for fun. I even took some to school, to read when I had
sped through yet another page of simple sums. It was a fun comforting item for
me to read. 

But that was just the beginning of my manual craze. 

* Part Two: Manuals Of Actual Consequence
I was sitting in my Dad's Ford Transit van, bored to tears, when I started
rummaging through the glove compartment. I then found the manual, and suddenly,
I had something to read. I can't remember off the top of my head which year it
was for, but I started flipping through. Pages of procedures for checking
various things, how to operate the radio system, features of add-ons and
variants that weren't on the van. In that moment, something clicked in my head
that manuals were *real* sources of information.

I then started reading pretty much any physical manual that came across my
path. I've learned, in theory, but mostly forgotten, how to operate many pieces
of machinery that I shall never see nor interact with, and that thought is
simply very funny to me. I know how to open 180 degree doors on certain Transit
Vans, for no reason at all, whatsoever.

But I actually learned helpful things, too. Things like reading a copy of the
"Rules of the Road" actually had some things stick around in my head, and
managed to make passing my own theory test easier, although I did have to revise
just a little bit as you can imagine.

But I simply adore having a comprehensive, well written and illustrated manual
to read. They are so unbelievably helpful that it still boggles the mind to me
that "RTFM" is a common cry on forums, chats, and frustrated tech support calls
everywhere? Why wouldn't you want to *read* a manual?

Oh, yeah, because you're a sane human being who doesn't see a large table
listing specifications, and think "Lovely!"

I know there's some of you out there that agree. 

* Part Three: Damn, Did I Miss The Good Part AGAIN?
Unfortunately, I often look at scans and and pictures of older manuals. And holy
hell, do they seem a lot more detailed, a lot more interesting to read! Frankly,
they needed to be for anyone to get good information on a given thing. The
lessened access to the gigantic source of all human knowledge and then 80
percent entirely useless lowest-common-denominator faff.

The advent of the Internet, and search engines, have somewhat lessened the need
to put *everything* into a manual. Often times, you can buy a new gizmo or gadget
and get a paper slip "Quick Start Guide", which simply tells you "plug it in,
4head", and an impostor booklet that contains only the billion lines of legalese
that tell you not to throw it in the rubbish bin and that you don't actually own
the product you just paid for.

Oh, and getting a big old spiral bound manual with your 8-bit home computer
sounds simply lovely, and I want that, please, thank you very much. If it's
going to sit on my desk, why *shouldn't* it be spiral bound?

Did I miss this just like the Web 1.0?

* Part Four: Digital Manuals, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Texinfo.
But the manual *lives* on. Sure, they take slightly different forms, these
days. Sometimes, it's a wiki, or knowledge base, which is kept up to date
rigorously and contains the same tips, tricks, and arcane knowledge I love.

Other times it's three lines that are inaccurate at best. At least they're quick
to read and dismiss, while you promptly find someone who knows what they're
doing, and then make them your defacto manual.

I think my favourite example comes from my favorite Lisp Interpeter/Web
Browser/Chessboard/Snake Game/Text-Based Adventure/Text Editor, GNU Emacs. The
built in manual is extensive, and just *chock* full of interesting tidbits. You
can learn Emacs in one day. Everyday. But it's got a manual to match that, and
docstrings galore to boot. With *three keypresses* you gain access to an *index* of
different manuals.

You certainly need it for a program that's been evolving since 1985. Emacs even
comes with two manuals for the built in language, Emacs Lisp, one a reference,
the other an introduction for non-programmers to that language!

There's also the UNIX tradition of the good old man page. Quick, simple, and of
course... accessible through Emacs. What, you expect me to *leave* Emacs? But more
seriously, they can be a real mixed bag. Some are just detailed enough to get to
know the program, others are small, and out-of-date. They are something to
scratch that itch, either way.

Not to mention the myriad of other software, hardware, and equipment that have
massive digital manuals. While it's disappointing that I might not get something
to hold in my hands, the replacement isn't too bad, and searching is a *godsend*
for pulling the information you need. There's benefits to both, really.

So I think there's plenty of high quality manuals left for me to read and
refrence. And plenty more that have three sentences of poorly translated English
that leave mep trudging to Stack Exchange to desperately find someone who
hopefully had the same problem.

And if you're not an Emacs user, and are complaining that GCC or some other
program doesn't have documentation, do yourself a favour, and type:

/"info"/

This one may have happened in an IRC channel.

Too long, didn't read? *Read the fuc-*