Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

[keelbolt]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Yeah you are right. But I did understand we are talking in this thread about help files, books, tutorials.

Ken

I am grateful for the suggestions already made.

As I said, I am reviewing Alpha Five 10 (having received the review copy with .NET magazine) with a view to recommending it to the organisation I am freelancing for. I now have a serious problem in recommending this software. A very large part of the reason for them looking at something like Alpha Five is in order to develop the in-house skill set of the organisation, so that they can manage their own database development with consultant support.

But in order to do this, there has to be a solid and comprehensive manual for both training and reference. FileMaker Pro 10 has two leading commercially produced manuals, of which The Missing Manual is in my view the better of the two.

The downloadable PDF by Susan Bush looks reasonably comprehensive, but only refers to the Desktop version of A5 10. Dr. Heller's book appears to be unfinished, from the comments above, but does not say so in the advertisement. I am therefore reluctant to spend money on downloading it, as I have already spent money on Bush's pdf.

The Wiki is not a training manual as such, but a reference for developers, and you have to know the fundamentals of Alpha Five before using it.

Given that one of the key selling points of Alpha Five is that it makes it easy to produce web database applications without having to know too much coding, the lack of a comprehensive manual is a serious issue in any kind of recommendation.

[Clipper87]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

I am evaluating Alpha Five after getting the evaluation copy in .Net magazine. The software looks excellent, and I want to recommend it's use to my organisation, but the tutorial system is driving me completely crazy. There doesn't seem to be a definitive tutorial or manual for Alpha Five v10, the tutorials and videos (of which there seem to be hundreds dotted across the internet) all seem to relate to different versions, so trying to follow them leads to a load of dead ends, and the Wiki seems to require you to know the software before you can learn it.

I keep trying to follow various videos, and discover that v10 behaves differently, so I keep getting stuck. Oh for something like The Missing Manual, or a comprehensive guide to v10.

Please can someone point me to a definitive guide to v10 before my brain completely stalls and I throw the software at something and say the evaluation has failed.

I agree. To get new people on board documentation is key. Even a clean, good looking & working Alpha Software website is key.

On the other hand I know that Martin Heller is working on the documentation side but it will take some time taking into consideration that documentation has been an issue for many versions. Part II & III of his book will eventually come and I also can't wait to get those.

I also agree that the videos should be taken to one comprehensive site with an indication of what version they apply to and if they apply to web/desktop or both. I have also put out requests for that and I am convinced that it will all come. V10 is just too good not to address these issues.

[kkfin]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Keelbolt,

I agree and now we just wait an answer to your thread from an old user pointing to you how good product Alpha is and what potential it have. It does not help you a bit, I guess.

Ken

[Richard Rabins]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

This is a topic of high priority to us.

Re a tutorial for building web apps

1) Part II and III of the book are being written
2) Susan Bush is writing a book on building web Apps
3) Steve Workings is working on a video training series

These will be available in the coming weeks

for reference purposes there is the new Alpha Wiki http://wiki.alphasoftware.com/HomePage which is very comprehensive

We also do hands on training - there is one this week in Las Vegas and we will be doing more

In addition there are many training resources and examples at http://docs.google.com/View?id=d52ghw8_194hms3z7d9

[Pat Bremkamp]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Richard,

There are several very accomplished Alpha programmers in the UK. I'm sure one of them would be available to give a few classes to your staff to get them jump started.

For an organization, that would be a better way to jump in than having one person read a book and try to teach the others. More expensive, sure, but getting up to speed quickly and interactive training are always better than taking weeks or months trying to learn from a book.

If a UK person is not available, then maybe you could get Steve Workings to give his Webinar series for your group.

Pat

[jkletrovets]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

This is a topic of high priority to us.

Re a tutorial for building web apps

1) Part II and III of the book are being written
2) Susan Bush is writing a book on building web Apps
3) Steve Workings is working on a video training series

These will be available in the coming weeks

for reference purposes there is the new Alpha Wiki http://wiki.alphasoftware.com/HomePage which is very comprehensive

We also do hands on training - there is one this week in Las Vegas and we will be doing more

In addition there are many training resources and examples at http://docs.google.com/View?id=d52ghw8_194hms3z7d9

Hi Richard,

If I might offer an observation......there is TOO much information in TOO many places. I am not trying to be critical, but I believe this is why so many people have trouble with Alpha. For example, why is there a link to a Google Docs url? How could any new(or experienced) user find this information without first coming here....and then if they came here...that link will likely be buried in a few days here. It would seem a proper "Getting Started" or "Docementation Reference" page on the main Alpha Site(i.e Alphasoftware.com) is the place for this information.

As another example, take Peter Greulich's comment that he could not find the link to Martin's book. Peter has been using Alpha for years.....if it is not readily apparent to him where to find the information....there is no way a new user will find it intuitive.

It is my opinion that the the MAIN starting point for all of this information should be from the main Alpha site. That is seemingly the way every other company in the world does it.

Why not create a "dashboard" (getting started and reference materials) in an Alpha Web App? I am sure someone could get a solid jump on this in one day using Alpha. The NEW Tree Control Navigation feature pack offered in 10.5 would make a GREAT starting point (and easy to use way) to "drill" to the info you are looking to find. :) Much more intuitive than the wiki IMO.

Regards,

Jeff

[susanhbush]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Please can someone point me to a definitive guide to v10 before my brain completely stalls and I throw the software at something and say the evaluation has failed.

Alpha Five Web Applications Made Easy, The Basics and More for Version 10.5 is NOW available.

This book is a clear, easy-to-follow tutorial, with each exercise defined in a step-by-step manner.

Click the Liberty Manuals link below to learn more. TOC and sample chapters available for each book,

[Richard Rabins]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Jeff - your comments below are VERY helpful - we are working to make everything easier to find off our site!
thanks
richard

Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,087

Default Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Rabins View Post
This is a topic of high priority to us.

Re a tutorial for building web apps

1) Part II and III of the book are being written
2) Susan Bush is writing a book on building web Apps
3) Steve Workings is working on a video training series

These will be available in the coming weeks

for reference purposes there is the new Alpha Wiki http://wiki.alphasoftware.com/HomePage which is very comprehensive

We also do hands on training - there is one this week in Las Vegas and we will be doing more

In addition there are many training resources and examples at http://docs.google.com/View?id=d52ghw8_194hms3z7d9
Hi Richard,

If I might offer an observation......there is TOO much information in TOO many places. I am not trying to be critical, but I believe this is why so many people have trouble with Alpha. For example, why is there a link to a Google Docs url? How could any new(or experienced) user find this information without first coming here....and then if they came here...that link will likely be buried in a few days here. It would seem a proper "Getting Started" or "Docementation Reference" page on the main Alpha Site(i.e Alphasoftware.com) is the place for this information.

As another example, take Peter Greulich's comment that he could not find the link to Martin's book. Peter has been using Alpha for years.....if it is not readily apparent to him where to find the information....there is no way a new user will find it intuitive.

It is my opinion that the the MAIN starting point for all of this information should be from the main Alpha site. That is seemingly the way every other company in the world does it.

Why not create a "dashboard" (getting started and reference materials) in an Alpha Web App? I am sure someone could get a solid jump on this in one day using Alpha. The NEW Tree Control Navigation feature pack offered in 10.5 would make a GREAT starting point (and easy to use way) to "drill" to the info you are looking to find. Much more intuitive than the wiki IMO.

Regards,

Jeff

[Atta]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

http://news.alphasoftware.com/V10Preview/videos.htm

This link has all of the videos

[Richard Rabins]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

there are more videos here too

https://docs.google.com/View?id=d52ghw8_194hms3z7d9

[mmaisterrena]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

We do appreciate/enjoy all of the videos BUT....
why cant there be single comprehensive List of videos, the fact that videos are all scattered around "drives us mad too", and cant the list have a search box pleaasee, I think there is a database software called Alpha Five that could help you get that done in 5 minutes.

the grid could be something like:

id, Category ,A5_version, Description, Link, User_Uploaded, Date

[Claire Shuttleworth]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Susan your book is ready
Is Dr Martin Heller's complete or still only 3 chapters?

thanks

[susanhbush]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Yes.

[Tommy Thompson]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Richard

What got me hooked on A5 was the excellent hard copy documentation and the great tutorial that came with A5 version 1. I don't know how many of you have seen it but it was good. I actually bought A5v1 off the shelf from a store in Nashville. It came with the books as part of the package.

I believe something like that would really help A5 become the leader of the pack.

Also, the white paper on how to use security is excellent. More of those that address specific areas would be great.


Tommy Thompson

[susanhbush]

Re: Alpha Five is driving me mad!!!

Richard
What got me hooked on A5 was the excellent hard copy documentation and the great tutorial that came with A5 version 1. I don't know how many of you have seen it but it was good. I actually bought A5v1 off the shelf from a store in Nashville. It came with the books as part of the package. Tommy Thompson

I am so with you, Tommy. Unfortunately, it has gotten too expensive for ANY software company to just throw these books in for free, especially in a printed format. I started with Alpha Four that also had a step-by-step tutorial like other programs at that time. My books attempt to emulate those earlier manuals with a step-by-step format - they're just much larger because there's so much to cover. The desktop book is more than 600 pages and the web book is about 500.