Earlier tonight (MUCH earlier tonight) I downloaded and installed GIMP.  Then I opened it to make sure the installation had worked okay.  Then I clicked on "Help" to find out how to USE it.  To my surprise "Help" told me there was no Help Manual installed and gave me the options of going online or cancelling.  I did not want to go online, so I cancelled.  What it DID NOT tell me was how/where to get the offline Help Manual.

So I went back to Google.  It gave me gimp.org amongst other possible websites to download the manual from.  I thought "Best to get it directly from the horse's mouth" so selected Gimp.org.  I downloaded the Help Manual loader/installer, then ran it.  It finished with the message "Help Manual successfully installed!".   "GREAT!", I thought, "offline Help, including the beginners' tutorials, now available whenever I need them on my local computer!"

I reopened GIMP, then "Help", then, full of eager anticipation clicked "Help Manual".  What did I get?  A dialogue box that informed me that "Help Manual is not installed on your computer."  Options:  Go online   or   Cancel.   But I had JUST FINISHED installing the Help Manual - more accurately, I had JUST FINISHED letting GIMP's own installer instal the Help Manual, presumably in the same directory as GIMP's own program installer had previously finished installing GIMP itself.  EVERYTHING was absolutely standard. 

So WHY can't GIMP find its own Manual in the directory that GIMP itself created and installed it in? Alt question:  What haven't I been told about how to make GIMP find a GIMP-installed part of itself?

A broader, more philosophical question:  Why is SO MUCH new learning connected with IT like trying to find one's way into a building with no front door?      

I won't go into how long it took me to get registered as a subscriber to this list.  The confirmation process just went around and around in circles without ever putting me in front of a "start new thread" or "submit your question" screen.  All I want to do is stitch a few photos together and sharpen up the colours in a few others.  

Adrian.

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