[Trisquel-devel] We need an index for Trisquel documentation, i think.

[roeplay at lavabit.com]

>> Message: 3
>> Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:45:55 -0500 (EST)
>> From: roeplay at lavabit.com
>> Subject: Re: [Trisquel-devel] We need an index for Trisquel
>> 	documentation, i think.
>> To: "Development coordination" <trisquel-devel at listas.trisquel.info>
Message-ID: <58725.74.137.17.163.1294807555.squirrel at lavabit.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>> > Hi!
>> >
>> > What do you think about using the index (and maybe the self
>> > documentation) of ubuntu as the basis for our documentation on the
>> wiki?
>> > https://help.ubuntu.com/10.10/index.html
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Trisquel-devel mailing list
>> > Trisquel-devel at listas.trisquel.info
>> > http://listas.trisquel.info/mailman/listinfo/trisquel-devel
>> >
>> To be honest, I'm not so sure we need an index because our
documentation
>> isn't very big. Ubuntu's documentation aims to be a complete
explanation
>> of every aspect of the system. The scope of Trisquel's documentation is
more narrow than that.
>
> Well, first of all sorry for my very bad bad english. Now, the whole
idea isn't made an index for our actual documentation, but:
>
> 1. Having a guide to the topics that need to be documented;
> 2. These topics will focus on the novice user without prior knowledge of
GNU;
>
> I put a proposal here: http://trisquel.info/en/wiki/index-proposal if
nothing else happens, maybe this weekend I start creating wiki pages for
each topic, and then begin to document, based on the manual of Ubuntu,
and taking screenshots.
>
> Saludos!
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Trisquel-devel mailing list
> Trisquel-devel at listas.trisquel.info
> http://listas.trisquel.info/mailman/listinfo/trisquel-devel
>

Your English is fine ;)

As for the index idea, sorry, but I'm not convinced this is necessary. The
sheer amount of man-hours needed to make this happen is going to be
-unbelievable- (to put it into perspective, I've put about ten or fifteen
hours into working on the web browser manual and it is barely half
finished, and that's a small fraction of the size of your proposed index).
I will help however I can assuming that Ruben approves this, but I'm just
not sure it's what we need right now.

We already have wiki pages for some of the most pertinent subjects like
installing the system, installing software packages, getting 3D graphics
and SWF videos to work, migrating from Ubuntu to Trisquel, etc. Other
subjects are so trivial (like browsing files, navigating the Main Menu,
and getting system updates) that anyone who has ever used a computer
understands them intuitively. They don't need manuals. Still other
subjects, like browsing the web and listening to music, are already
covered in the included documentation for that piece of software (in this
case, for Firefox/Abrowser and Exaile, respectively) and a wiki manual
would be redundant. In my humble opinion, it is better to improve on our
current framework than to propose a whole new gigantic undertaking.

On the other hand, your wiki page reminds me that there are a few more
manuals that we SHOULD create that would benefit the Trisquel community.
For example, we should have manual to introduce new users to the concept
of a command line terminal, and a SECTION in the installation manual with
system requirements.

So in conclusion, I've downloaded that Ubuntu beginner's manual and will
be adapting as many good things from that book into our current manuals as
I am able, but I don't support a complete overhaul.

--AndrewT