[scribus-dev] online docs

[Christoph Schäfer]

Hi Alex,

Am Montag, 7. September 2009 11:05:27 schrieb Alexandre Prokoudine:
> Hi,
>
> I'm finishing first take at online docs in Russian right now. I've
> been rejecting all incoming requests to do that for a couple of years,
> because the online docs, while having a lot of useful information,
> have been in a sorry state for as long as I remember them (which
> means, from the very beginning). 

While it can't be denied that many documents are in urgent need of an update, 
and the documentation as whole definitely mirrors the way it developed 
(unstructured), I think "sorry state" is slightly exaggerated.

> But if we are going to win the new 
> linux at russian-schools tender, we need at least something in Russian.
> So I did it, fixing some stuff that should have been fixed in the
> original before being added to 1.3.5. The result however is far from
> being satisfactory to me.

Could you send your fixes to Peter, Greg, Craig and me?

>
> Which leads me to the question: what are the plans for online docs? If
> nobody is going to work on them or substitute them with the book's
> content,

There's no way the content of the book will be included in the help browser, 
and there's more than just one reason for it, sheer size and a contract being 
only two.

> I think I could spend a good deal of late autumn's time to 
> give the docs same kind of love I gave to Fontmatrix this summer.

Here's my suggestion: First, identify documents that need an update, perhaps 
even use different degrees of urgency. Also, identify specific gaps or 
outdated information, but keep in mind that the online help need not/must not 
be as detailed as the printed book.

Next we could look for completely missing information. If you want to work on 
a specific doc, I suggest you start with the "New Document" dialog (which 
would also be an opportunity to finally explain the document presets 
like "Nine Parts" etc. -- hint, hint ;)

I definitely think we need some basic chapters on text frames, image frames 
etc.

My plans for 1.4 are the documentation of the new vector effects, a 
description of all import/export filters, Multiple Duplicate, Transform 
Tools, and http://bugs.scribus.net/view.php?id=8397

Perhaps Greg wants to work on abridged versions of his "Working with ..." 
articles on the Wiki ...

Other suggestions are welcome, of course.

Cheers,

Christoph