Skip to main content

New Software Blues - Forgetting What You've Learnt

Serif DrawPlus X5
Image: Serif Website.
There was a time when I could skim through a manual for virtually any application software in the space of a weekend and that would be all I'd need to find my way around the program from then on.

There was even a time when I could work out applications based on my previous experience of using similar software.

Whilst those days aren't completely gone I'm finding it harder and harder to learn new software simply because the software can do so much more than it used to.

For example, I got very used to using Corel Draw 8 and the suite of tools that came with it back in 1995. I learnt to use it over the space of a weekend so I could complete a large commission I was working on for a client.

I'm from the school of if it does the job then don't upgrade. Corel Draw 8 has done the job I need it for well for nearly 15 years. Plus I don't like spending money unnecessarily on upgrades - I just don't buy into the whole concept of computer software and hardware being obsolete from the moment it's released.

However after 15 years, even I can see there's a need to upgrade so I did. I went with Serif Draw X5 because it worked with my graphics tablet and because it was far  cheaper than an upgrade to Corel Draw X6.

The problem is I seem to be really struggling with learning it. Sure I know the very basics. The common features that most drawing programs have such as the Pen and Pencil tools, how to adjust line widths and change colours etc. It's all the advanced stuff that I'm struggling with.

Serif Draw X5 comes with a lot of built in context help that you can read as you draw. It has a help panel that you can keep open for a refresher of how to use any tool as you select it. Despite this I still don't seem to be able to make things stick in my brain.

I've done all the tutorial videos for the program at least twice to help out but even that isn't really working - even though the tutorials are really good with step by step examples.

It's not helping things that I've bought quite a lot of software lately and am experiencing similar problems learning them as well.

I know I'll get there eventually if I keep persevering but it's very frustrating knowing that the tools I have are the right ones for the job if only I knew how to use them confidently.

I guess the analogy I could liken it to is learning how to walk again after an accident. You know how to walk  but until you strengthen all the muscles it's going to take time to get back to where you were before.

That said, if I"m having trouble learning some of these programs, I can only imagine what difficulties someone with less experience of using application software packages must be having.


TET Life Topics:

Comments

  1. Mum60January 12, 2013 8:04 PM

    It's bad enough for me as everytime I get my head around some new technology, something else new comes out for me to learn.

    VCR's faded away and we had to learn to use DVD players, thus also having gone into CD's instead of cassette tapes. I've replaced a lot of my videos onto DVDs now, but would still like a VCR to play my manually recorder material, as my VCR doesn't play now since it started chewing up tapes, (only the DVD player side of it works) and apparently not worth having fixed, but people that fixed them seem to have disappeared or don't do it anymore.

    I'd still like to have a VCR to play all the tapes I've got recorded from TV such as concerts and such things that haven't been put to DVD, as they've been lost, apparently, but they have to be transferred onto DVDs by yourself now.

    I'm still on a basic Sony Ericson mobile, but wouldn't mind one of these Smart phones with internet and that you just use your finger to scroll etc, but people seem to have a lot of trouble with plans and prices sometimes. I don't necessarily want to be using them while I'm out or checking emails etc, as that's bad enough to do when I'm home.

    All my DVD and stero system needs up dating now. I've got out of taping with having the Iview for ABC and can catch-up other channels if I want, but I've gone back to the old way of just selecting what to watch and what to miss, it doesn't bother me as much now, and I used to do a heck of a lot of taping before.

    Just wish technology wouldn't keep bringing out new things when we've just got used to something! What was wrong with VCR's anyway, apart from not having tapes to wear out or chew up?

    It just goes on and on!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TET (David Arandle)January 13, 2013 8:38 PM

      I'd suggest you get hold a VCR player from someone and buy a thing for your computer that can record the video tape to digital video and then burn it to a DVD (the hardware you need you can buy for under $20.00) but it would be another bit of technology for you to work out. Might just be easier using a service that can do it for you.

      Delete
  2. GipsyJanuary 12, 2013 10:22 PM

    As much as I liked the post, I have to say I absolutely adore the comment. I see myself in that situation in a couple of years!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TET (David Arandle)January 13, 2013 8:39 PM

      You and me both. I like to hang on to old technology until I absolutely have to replace it. By which time things have progressed so much it can be more than a little confusing.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated by an actual human (me, TET) and may not publish right away. I do read all comments and only reject those not directly related to the post or are spam/scams (I'm looking at you Illuminati recruiters... I mean scammers. Stop commenting on my Illuminati post!).

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...
3 comments
Continue Reading »

The Princess' Butterflies - Using an AI Image to Video Generator to Animate Art That Started as a 23 Year Old Rough Pen Sketch

B ack in October of 2023 I used Prome AI's Sketch Rendering feature to color a 23 year old rough pen sketch I did of a princess watching butterflies, sitting next to a waterfall in the forest. You can read more about that in my previous article,  The Princess' Butterflies - Using an AI Art Generator to Color and Enhance a 23 Year Old Rough Pen Sketch The three images I used to create my final image (bottom right). Notice how closely the AI has followed my line art sketch (top left) but in the first image (top right) has misinterpreted the waterfall as some kind of large tree stump. Prome's render of the artwork was pretty good but I did end up creating a composite image myself from two of the best renders, to get my final image. Since then AI Image to Video has come a long way, particularly when it comes to creating animation from artwork and maintaining the art style for the whole generation. AI still does much better with turning photographic images to video but I found ...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Second Sunday Skateboard Session Ep 2 - Some Improvements

TET heelflip - looking better but still not a land. A s of writing this I've stuck to my plan of filming myself skate every second Sunday. By the time this post goes up I will have three episodes done. As part of that goal I am also skating more between episodes, about every second to third day for an hour, practicing Braille's Skateboarding Made Simple, Volume 1. That said, I'm not posting these videos here immediately after they're posted to my @TETLife YouTube Channel because I only post an article once a week, and that would make every second article a Sunday Session post. These posts are really so I can add some additional thoughts after the fact, and, of course, because this blog is about all things that interest me, of which skateboarding is one of them. In episode two I had intended to speak to camera more than I do but my driveway is right next door to my neighbor's shed/workshop, and I get a little self-conscious if I'm not too sure whether he's th...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Boom Crash Opera Born Classic But Not Again

Boom Crash Opera are an Australian Band that reached the peak of their popularity in the mid to late nineteen eighties. They are a band that I knew about at that time but was never really excited by until they released their ill fated double album Born and Born Again in 1995 (Album cover pictured). At the time of its release I was very much into emerging Australian musical acts and was also looking out for new sounds that were different and had kind of a futuristic/electronic sound. Artists that I was buying at the time included; Swoop , Nine Inch Nails and Pop Will Eat Its Self . As well as a really interesting release by David Bowie, the concept album, Outside . Born was a fairly radical departure for Boom Crash Opera (BCO). The first single, Gimme , was often compared to the sounds of Gary Glitter, particularly his single, Rock n Roll part 2 , because of the pounding drum loops. Watch the video below. My favorite single from the album is dissemble which probably went now...
16 comments
Continue Reading »

Australian Federal Election 2025 - The Australian Democrats (Please Like Us Again) and The Greens

Image: Reve AI T here's not much to be said about the current Australian Democrats other than in 2025 Australian election, in May, they'll be out there hoping they win a seat... any seat... 'please like us again!' The Australian Democrats For just over two decades, from the late seventies onward, the Australian Democrats were the third most important party in the Federal government (if you don't count the National party since they've been on that coalition ticket with the Liberals for as long as I can remember). In fact, once I moved away from the Labor party, they were my top pick until the party slowly imploded in the early 2000's from a series of unfortunate events like leaders defecting to other parties, and a highly publicised incident of drunkenness, bullying, and abuse from a male party leader to a female colleague. It's been two decades since then (and that guy's with the Greens now)... please like us again! That aside, the party is still t...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

The Australian Federal Election 2025 Could Be a Win For Independents

Australian Democrats founder, Senator Don Chipp, embodied the role of minor parties holding the balance of power with his quote of "keep the bastards honest." Photo Manipulated Caricature by TET. A s of writing this, the actual Australian Federal Election date has yet to be announced, as our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, attempts to keep the focus on the fallout of severe weather events in Queensland, however it's looking likely that some time in May is the safest bet. Despite this, all parties have been hard at campaigning, with smaller parties, and in particular, conservative independent candidates, seemingly rallying together to make sure people know how much influence they can have just by preventing the two major parties (Labor and the Liberal/National coalition) from having a majority in either (or both) houses of parliament. They're also doing their part to make sure voters finally understand that preferential voting works in everybody's favor over one ...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Making an Effort to Be a President Trump Free Zone - Final Rant (I Hope)

I  hope the American people, who voted for President Trump, get the full experience of what they thought they voted for along with what they're actually getting.  Now may be a good time for them to learn to speak Russian because if World War Three does break out, it's not beyond possibility that it'll be the USA and Russia against the rest of the world, as Trump appears to be emboldening Russia to dig in on their attack on the Ukraine. China, may opt to stay neutral, or even join forces with the rest of the world because they've been quietly winning an economic war with so many countries, they may not care so much about the USA. Especially since President Trump wants to bring manufacturing back to America and impose tariffs on every country exporting anything to the USA. After that fiasco meeting President Zelenskyy had in the Oval Office with President Trump I've pretty much had enough. I'm not writing about what new dumb ass thing Trump's doing this week. ...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »