Talk:Wizard (software)

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I'd like to remove some links that are of less importance to this article. Please tell me if there are any objections before or after the removal. (Alexander Konovalenko 12:02, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC))

Most commonly used at the time[edit]

If I recall correctly the most commonly used wizard at the time was called the Dialup Networking Wizard, not the Internet Connection Wizard. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Evarlast (talk • contribs) 03:13, 29 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How Wizards Work[edit]

Request - how wizards work. Not the coding behind them, but how they can be used and more indpeth on what common factors are associated with them. Just...more info, y'know? 82.26.23.252 16:55, 28 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Restructured the opening paragraph to add clarity and remove unverifiable or potentially inaccurate claims
Re-added the bit about "Wizards" being called "Druids" in OSS, adding more specificity and citing the appropriate section of the API.
Correct the weasel-inline bit
Removed the quip about "arbitrary laws", which besides being unreferenced, also doesn't seem to carry any actual content outside being a retort

Tylerl (talk) 00:14, 24 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Origin of Wizards[edit]

I'm quite convinced that wizard user interfaces (recognized by having forward/back next/previous choices) were common in installation of software even before 1991, but I don't have an example or specific case to back this up. Anyone remember a specific installation program?

Style[edit]

I added guidelines for technical writers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrew morkel (talk • contribs) 23:07, 7 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

85.93.225.197 (talk) 07:33, 29 April 2008 (UTC) Per Gunnar Hansø[reply]

Expert Systems[edit]

The page contrasts wizards with expert systems and mentions that expert systems use AI or "Complex Algorithms". Yes/no experts systems (which are probably most comparable with wizards) only require a very simple algorithm (essentially traversing a tree where each branch is a question with yes/no edges, and the leaves are answers). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.127.209.199 (talk) 16:02, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Merge[edit]

Both this article and the Assistant (software) articles are talking about the concept. The effect of having two separate articles is advertising for the individual brands. The merged article may need a different name to avoid favoring one over the other. If one name must be chosen over the other, the word "assistant" is more generic with more global relevant meaning than the word "wizard." Oicumayberight (talk) 17:02, 23 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Since I had to check, I'll note for the next person who comes along that in 2009, Assistant was redirected to Wizard. Tophtucker (talk) 08:58, 26 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Related to "Magic" programs?[edit]

Hey I just realized, "Magic programming" means complex code that is hidden behind a simple interface! And just as wizards from fantasy novels work with magic, Software wizards present complicated code in a way a newb can handle1 Can someone tell me if this is related? Did one term inspire the other? VectorLightning (talk) 00:40, 19 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Some links to potential material[edit]

I haven't found as many good sources as I'd like. Surely there are some totally classic histories, critiques, dissections, etc. for such an influential paradigm. Here are some links I wanna remember that don't quite belong in the article. Tophtucker (talk) 09:02, 26 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/uxguide/win-wizards?redirectedfrom=MSDN — ton of great info!
https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/app-architecture/onboarding/ — looking for a better Apple HIG document about "Assistants" but this is the best I've found
https://hn.algolia.com/?q=wizard — maybe some good classic articles in here?
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Amicrosoft.com+installation+wizard — the "Installation Wizard" is a very common case and may deserve some attention
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dn96m/eli5why_is_every_installer_called_wizard/
https://twitter.com/rsnous/status/1404461292065333251
https://learn.adafruit.com/apple-newton-personal-digital-assistant?view=all — on the Newton's "Assist" feature
https://5dok.org/document/nzw466lq-approaches-for-automated-software-installations-in-windows.html

It’s also frustrating that the screenshots are missing step 1, which you can see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oz4IVspteU&t=1016s, though it's lower quality; the screenshots of steps 2–7 were apparently downloaded from http://web.archive.org/web/20120703032442/http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/download Tophtucker (talk) 02:24, 27 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]