Developed by Leo Geoffrion and John Danison during the 87-88 academic year, this HyperCard stack was done as an experiment in hypertext authoring as a way to provide just-in-time training to students working in the public clusters. The intent was to exploit the full capabilities of HyperCard to provide a very visual introduction to the Macintosh computer and its major applications.
Clicking the "Introducting the Macintosh computer" box presented a major tutorial section that walked users through the major components of the machine itself and the MacOS
Each label was an active button that linked to detailed information about that component. Wherever possible, the information included advice on proper use. For example, the "air vents" tag includes advice not to place papers or books on the top of the Mac since that blocks the air vents and leads to overheating.
Clicking one of the application icons leads to tutorials about that item. For example, here's the starting screen for MacWrite:
Clicking any part of the window generates additional information about that section:
The buttons along the bottom lead to tutorials on how to perform basic word processing tasks. Here's the start of the "How do I format text?" tutorial:
The tutorial screens walk the user though the basic tasks. Graphical layouts make the instructions as self-evident as possible:
The tutorial was installed in the Macintosh public clusters, but we found that students did not use it frequently. Furthermore, because Macintosh units were in short supply at that time, students often disabled the tutorial in order to use the computer for writing and other applications. The tutorial was uninstalled during the second semester.
The tutorial itself was presented at a conference on Interactive hypertext held at Bowdoin College in the summer of 1988. (Read the Abstract).
