Microsoft is the master, but many, many programmers and software development companies are guilty. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had the most meaningless error messages pop up on my computer screen.
What set me off this morning? A client sent me a Word file. A simple, one-page Word file. I double-clicked it.
When the file opened, it opened with an error message: The dimensions after resizing are too small or too large.
Huh? What does that mean? Does anyone have a clue? How could a programmer think that could possibly be a helpful or informative error message? Even if I had any idea what dimensions are being referred to, I don’t know if they’re too small, or if they’re too large.
Whoever wrote that error message needs to be smacked upside the head with a clue bat. And then promptly fired and banned from software development for the remainder of his natural life.
Microsoft Word is very dependent on printer drivers. When you open a document it tries to adjust the dimensions to your printer settings. It’s the exact opposite of a PDF, where the postscript tells the printer exactly how it should look. Instead Word mangles the document, possibly showing you something different than the original.
It’s certainly not the most intuitive office application out there.