> Have you ever read the manual for your browser which you are using to make this comment? The OS on which the browser is running?
For niche situations, yes, e.g. different browsers having different keyboard shortcuts for hard refresh. It's quite common for people to assume they know how to do it in one browser because they knew the shortcut in another, but when they just get a normal refresh they don't realise their error.
Software written to be used by billions of people per day must be written to have a very low barrier to entry, and even if it contains sophisticated and complex features they must not be essential for >99.99% of the software's overall usage.
The downside of this approach is that many people never learn about features in everyday software that would make them much more productive. Keyboard shortcuts as above are the classic example and are almost always documented, but there are many more unexplored features and not all requiring significant memory or technical skill to make use of. I've not heard of a regular office job in the last 15 years where there would be induction training on the core tools (OS, browser, office suite). It's assumed that you're not employable if you don't know how to use them, and by implication that knowing how to use them is a binary thing rather than a spectrum.
You have read the actual manual for your browser? Multiple browsers? You didn’t google for the answer on how to refresh the pages? Somehow I just don’t feel like this is the literal truth.
If you mean a printed book describing how every feature of (say) Chrome works, then no. They don't produce one. The "manual" for Chrome is Google's support Web pages for the browser, which I have read in conscious preference to the often inaccurate folk knowledge that comes back from a general Google search.
For niche situations, yes, e.g. different browsers having different keyboard shortcuts for hard refresh. It's quite common for people to assume they know how to do it in one browser because they knew the shortcut in another, but when they just get a normal refresh they don't realise their error.
Software written to be used by billions of people per day must be written to have a very low barrier to entry, and even if it contains sophisticated and complex features they must not be essential for >99.99% of the software's overall usage.
The downside of this approach is that many people never learn about features in everyday software that would make them much more productive. Keyboard shortcuts as above are the classic example and are almost always documented, but there are many more unexplored features and not all requiring significant memory or technical skill to make use of. I've not heard of a regular office job in the last 15 years where there would be induction training on the core tools (OS, browser, office suite). It's assumed that you're not employable if you don't know how to use them, and by implication that knowing how to use them is a binary thing rather than a spectrum.