Re: Work in progress documentation design

Allan Day <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.comp.gnome.documentation
Message-ID <CAC_wn4uh1E+EVJ7daf57EXzq5hwtN0toPn9rc+O4ytm7A9D6yg@mail.gmail.com>
Petr Kovar <[email protected]> wrote:
...
>>  1. Investigate merging the Getting Started documentation into
>> gnome-user-docs, in order to avoid duplication of material.
>
> We've discussed this a few times before and the reasons why these two
> modules are separate still apply. The most important factor here is the
> module size. Video files are big and the module / package gets even bigger
> with every new translation. ...

Sorry, I should have mentioned - I've been discussing dropping the
videos with Jakub, and going for static images only instead.

> Also, I don't think there is any duplication of content.

I disagree - there's quite a strong overlap between "Getting Started"
and "Introduction to GNOME".

> For the user, it's
> really hard to say whether these two documents are technically separated
> into two modules or not.

That's true. The advantage would be more to ensure that the docs are
developed as a single coherent entity, by organising them according to
what users actually see.

>>  2. Update the "home screen" designs. I've become dissatisfied with
>> the latest mockups [1] I did for this, primarily because they don't
>> give you direct links into content items - this increases the number
>> of navigation steps, and doesn't draw the user in as it should.
>
> Well, this is tricky. You can either provide a list of direct links to very
> basic topics like we do in getting-started, or you can provide a more
> comprehensive list with a broader scope, but that means you have to
> sacrifice something. ...

It certainly could have implications for the structure of the desktop
help, yes. But maybe that's not such a bad thing, if it makes it
easier to navigate...

>> As I did research for these tasks, I started to compile a list of
>> goals and principles [2]. ...
> I like the principles, in general.  I think they can be applied to the
> help content provided in all GNOME modules.

Cool, I'm glad to hear that. Let me know if you think of anything that
should be added.

Allan
lmpx.com only provides a reader for public news (NNTP) servers. It is not affiliated with the servers or forums shown here and is not responsible for the content of articles, which is written by their respective authors.