Robot Rock

Documentation Plan: The program will come with a set of static html pages and images, viewable by the user's favorite browser or html viewer.

Specifically, these help pages would include:

• A "Getting Started" guide which walks the user through the process of adding new instruments, changing instrument and song settings, deleting instruments, and saving/loading a song. All instructions here include screenshots.

• Explanation of what the software does (not internally, but from a user perspective)

• Breakdown of GUI components, describing exactly what everything does (again from a user perspective)

• FAQ

• Detail pages on each instrument, describing that instrument and how it responds to other instruments

• Developer pages describing the process of writing a new instrument compatible with the software, as well as the installation process of new instruments.

• Index for quick lookup of terms

These help pages will be accessible either by navigating to them on disk, or by selecting to view them via the program's help menu. If the program were to be distributed from a website, then that site would also host a copy of the most recent documentation (viewable online).

In addition, all User Interface elements of sufficient complexity will have tooltips quickly explaining their function.

Finally, if time allows, the program itself will have an interactive getting started function that will be an option when the program is first run. This interactive guide will take the user step by step through the same actions described in the html document. For example, when the time comes for the user to add an instrument, a large arrow will appear on screen and point to the add instrument button, along with a text box asking the user to "Click on the 'Add instrument' button to add a new instrument to the stage"