About OS X help

Written by: hexley on Thursday December 13th 2007, 7:15 am

The beginning
It was about a year ago. I decided it was time to start an OS X help site. I quickly threw up some forums, with the idea I would answer every question posted. Over the course of a year, I did in fact stick to my goal, helping a small handful of users.

When I say ‘handful’, I literally mean less than one hundred users. I learned in order to promote a help forum, you need to stand out. In a heavily saturated area such as general OS X help, that becomes a daunting prospect.

I came to the conclusion I had to do something unique, something different than all the rest. Perhaps not tremendously different, but at the very least, I needed to target a demographic that has for the large part, never had a solid help resource.

On December 12th 2007, I started the process of redeveloping OS X help, as a site targeted to the brand new to OS X user. As more and more people are buying their first Macintoshes, more and more people are in need of a good foundation for how to use their new computer.

My goal is to explain in excruciatingly simple detail, the most basic of functions to learning how to use your computer. If you are on your second or third Macintosh, this site probably will not be of much benefit to you. On the other hand, you never know what you may stumble upon.

The Why
Spending well over a decade and a half with the Macintosh, I have learned everyone does things a little different. Usually they stick with the methods they first learned. The tried and true so to speak.

Over that time, I have done a good amount of technical maintenance on the various OS X operating systems. Watching clients get stuck, or just work in general, has always been an eye opener to how confusing computers can be to just about everyone.

I have always enjoyed teaching, helping people learn new and sometimes even better ways to use their computer. As a result, I started kicking around the idea of a tutorial site to help the beginner user. While there are numerous books on this, books lack the dynamic nature that I hope this site will provide.

The clincher
In an effort to put a somewhat dramatic twist on my reasons for starting OS X help, I should say it is in part to not behave like so many others. I was stuck in a position where I needed clarification on something I was not immensely familiar with. I asked someone who was in an expert position on the matter.

My question was answered, albeit in a condescending way. Walking away from a conversation at the receiving end of comments like “waste of my time”, and “that is a no effing brainer” angered me. I have always stood behind there never being any such thing as a stupid question. As a result, this site was pushed to the top of my priority list. I hope you enjoy the site, if you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments, or use the contact link to send in an email.

Scott Haneda
Site Administrator

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