Shannon Braun's Weblog

I don't install MSDN help… to me its just not worth the space on my hard drive… I often use Google to search for examples or in depth information how the framework works.  The amount of information out there is impressive.  The problem is that you are relying on one person to provide you with sound examples of how to use or not use parts of the API.  You also pays to be knowledgeable in development practices to determine if what is being done is proper practice or a hack.

 

However, there may be hope.  Microsoft introduced a Wiki based MSDN this week.  The concept is similar to the WikiPedia, an online encyclopedia that is maintained by all, but unfortunately doesn't let you edit the body of the actual documentation. I think as the MSDNWiki gains popularity it will centralize high quality documentation for all aspects of the framework… and I hope add more relevant code examples for using the framework. 

 

Focused on the architect personas Microsoft has targeted for there certification program, the new site looks like it was launched without a lot of promotion.  Not sure why… but one thing I found interesting is that you are seeing Microsoft use the concept of persona a lot more to describe the audience they are targeting.  This site is an example of that, as is the roles( Architects, Developers, Testers and Database Professionals) they have defined for the different consumers of the Visual Studio.NET IDE.  They also got as granular as splitting up different developer types.

 

The concept is based on Alan Cooper's work and a basis of his Goal Directed Design, a process used to develop software.  It's an interesting process, I had a chance to use it back in 1998 when I worked on Orcas, a Long Term Care management application.  The UI looks somewhat dated now, but that screen shot was from 1997.  Everything was DHTML, Binary Behaviors and some ActiveX controls… using concepts of what many would call AJAX now. Its all about focusing on how the user will utilize the application.