Documentation is never regarded as a very exciting activity, but our comprehensive
help and training materials are a vital element of the self-serve experience with
STEM. In the last quarter we have posted two significant updates to our online help
site, help.stem.impliedlogic.com,
which enhance both of these aspects.
Integrated help for STEM 7.5
When a new software version is launched, it is impractical to revise the whole documentation
structure overnight; aiming to do so would simply delay an already tight release
schedule. Instead we write our new help content to a self-contained
What’s new chapter in the first instance, and defer the wider integration
of this new content until the start of the next development phase; there won’t
be any new features for a while and our editor can focus on how the new content
should fit in the broader context of the full documentation.
Figure 1: Merging the What’s new chapter
into the main body of documentation
Because STEM 7.5 included a radical re-write of the interface for drawing graphs,
this has meant some wholesale changes to the structure of the results documentation
in particular. We are pleased to announce that this content is now live in the online
version (which is accessed by default when you press <F1> in the software).
The offline content will be similarly updated in a future STEM 7.5c maintenance
release.
WiMAX-DSL training course online
As an adjunct
to this, we are also pleased to announce that our entire reference training course
is now accessible
free-of-charge online. This series of 17 basic and 38 advanced exercises
remains the most comprehensive set of STEM training materials we have ever produced;
now you can dip into this resource (or come back to it for a refresher later) whenever
you like.
Note: the associated training model is pre-installed with all versions of STEM.
Of course you may decide that you would benefit from the input and presence of a
qualified/experienced trainer, but this gives you the opportunity to have a go at
it by yourself first and make that evaluation for yourself.
More content on the way
We are hard at work producing some additional training materials that will focus
more on ‘starting from scratch’, including in the first instance our
popular One-hour tutorial demo. Look out for further
publication notices in our October newsletter!