What I tend to find, is that people generally like what they use the most where creative software is concerned, and that can be pretty much any software so long as they stick with it and get over the initial dislike which often happens when one tries a new program that does not behave like others one is used to. Almost every GUI of every bit of software looks confusing and awkward when you first get to grips with it. It is difficult to recall that is the case sometimes when you're used to some software's GUI, methodology and menu structure etc, but when I work as a trainer, it is something I always have to be mindful of. What I always tell people when they are apprehensive about learning some new program, is that they will recall that something such as MS Word or Internet Explorer probably looked confusing to them when they first saw it, but now they probably use it swiftly without even thinking, and the same will be true of the software they are currently learning after a few days of perseverance.
Notwithstanding the fact that most people's ability to learn new things becomes somewhat diminished the older they get, it isn't always the age, as you say Angela, it was far more likely to be the book you got hold of being poorly laid out rather than your ability to take in info, because technical books frequently are badly laid out and poorly written. Frankly, most of them are bloody awful to be honest which certainly does not help, even when you are young. This is invariably because they are generally written by techies and not writers, even though technical writing is a trade, so authors could have such a person edit what they create to make it read and flow better, which sadly, does not often happen. Even the official Adobe Classroom in a Book tutorial manuals which Adobe hand out as part of authorised courses, and which are effectively the curriculum guide for Adobe Certified Expert Trainers, are attrocious as learning aids.
But some people are good at learning no matter what their age is - for example, when I was learning to fly an aeroplane at the age of 32 back in the 1990s, I was told that for every year over the age of about 25 that a student pilot is, I could expect to add about two hours extra dual flight instruction time to the average (roughly 20 hours) amount of initial instruction before I would get sent solo. Being slightly pissed off by that ageist generalisation, and the expense of it apparently meaning I was looking at over 30 hours before going solo, I determined to beat that time. And I did, in fact I trounced it, getting sent for my first solo after a mere 7.5 hours of dual instruction, which just goes to show that pissing someone off is occasionally a good motivator LOL
Given that I was a writer for the Guardian for ten years before I worked in my present job as a software trainer, I am actually currently considering writing a few tutorial books myself for things such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver, basing them on how I train people rather than how most tutorial books approach it, because I at least know my methods work well.
Al
