I posted a similar idea on the Tech Board because it initially was a tech problem: Program would not install. But it taking the steps to reinstall it I realized these steps were way beyond what any other software company would expect it users to do.
The manual is also too long and complicated. KISS: “Keep It Simple, _______” PLEASE!
For the Love of God, consider this. I want to write, i.e. type words; it’s not rocket science; I don’t want to go to the moon.
I understand your problem, but you may be attacking it the wrong way.
First, Scrivener is not – repeat, NOT – a simple program. It is multi-functional, intended for writers who have complex projects to research, write, edit, organize, assemble, coordinate, export. At least. So to complain about Scrivener’s complexity is to complain about its most valuable functions.
Second, if all you want is to type words, if you don’t care at this point about those other tasks which are integral to many writers’ work, then set Scrivener aside until you need it, and use one of the many simple text editors.
When you have your first draft ready, copy it into Scrivener for the hard work. At that point, you may begin to see how it can also be used for simple writing.
ps
Have you tried the Interactive Tutorial (under the Help menu)? It may still not be as simple as you want, and it’s more of a guided tour of Scrivener’s features than a reference, but it’s quite valuable for getting to know what tools it can provide for your needs.
I think the book “Scrivener for Dummies” was written specifically for people who want to bridge the gap between the comprehensive manual and the tutorial. You should check that out if you think you’ll be keeping scrivener after your trial run.
Users of Microsoft products could probably tell plenty of tales about having to re-install the entire system software and taking several days to get a printer connected and working. In other words, I feel you are exaggerating somewhat – and in any case, with this installation problem you are talking about a rather rare scenario that I believe has mainly been caused by another software company.
I understand the frustrations caused by computers only too well – but in my experience they are not as uncommon as you suggest. Computers at the moment seem to be roughly at the stage that automobiles were in the 1920s – it is as well to be a bit of a mechanic unless you want to be stranded periodically.
Cheers, Martin.
The install is pretty standard for most Mac shareware programs - download a disk image, open it, drag it to your Applications folder, that’s it.
As for the manual, we can hardly keep it simple when the program is, by design, deep and complex. The manual has to cover everything. If you want a simple intro, then use the interactive tutorial or the ten-minute intro video, as others have said.
If you want us to simplify the program itself, then it is almost certainly the wrong tool for you. Scrivener was designed to perform a certain set of functions, and those won’t fit in with everyone’s way of writing. We have a list of great alternatives on our [url=http://www.literatureandlatte.com/links.php]links page[/i] if Scrivener isn’t for you, as sad as that would make us. 
All the best,
Keith
There is also this step-by-step install guide. That is written for people who may not have encountered the common shareware Mac conventions before. Software is often distributed on things that act like CD-ROMs when you launch them. They have folders, and you drag files out of them to install the programs and files to your computer. If you already know all of that, then just drag the Scrivener icon out to the Applications folder and you’re done with it. It is not a complicated process by any means, so the next time you come across such a program you’ll know what to do with it.
I’ll admit to having been rather stumped about what to do to install Scrivener on Mac last Thursday - because it was, of course, the first thing I dled and attempted to install on Mac and the whole “just drag it to your applications folder and it’s done” thing is so counter to the whole Windows install, multi-step, set up process. But I chalked that up to being new to Mac, not to Scrivener. And I certainly would not have described it as being a complicated or difficult install at all! The hardest part was accepting that it actually could be that easy to get a program installed!
Wait until you have to uninstall something, that’s where things get ugly. You have to…
…wait for it…
…drag the application icon from your Applications folder to the trash can.
D:!
ALL THE WAY TO THE TRASH CAN?!
You… you mean there’s not some overly complicated twelve-step program that takes half an hour to do it for me, while leaving behind a bunch of detritus and dead files I then need to clean up? DDDD: