Re: Requesting Approval of Release notes general structure

[Claus Schwarm <c schwarm gmx net>]

Hi!

It might be interesting to know why you want to change the 'old'
structure?

I invented the old one for good reasons. These include

 * usability: People don't read web pages, they scan them. Our main
"talking points" -- that is: every GNOME release improves features,
usability, performance, internationalization and accessibility --
should be mentioned in the visible parts, ie. the headers. The 'old'
structure takes care of that. It is also easy to navigate: If you're
interested in internationalization, this is easy to find and read.

 * psychology: people are more likely to remember what they see often.
If we keep the GNOME release notes structure stable for a few years,
people will learn the talking points: "every GNOME release improves
features, usability, performance, internationalization and
accessibility" -- the magic of repetition. Additionally, repeating the
"feature improvements" page works against myths spread about GNOME such
as: "Due to the usability stuff, GNOME has no features!"

 * journalism: The structure uses the inverted pyramid format well
known to professionals; by using it, the 'old' release notes mentions
the important news first and less important news later. This is
good for getting as much information across as possible. Most people are
curious about the new features, and not about our improvements in
accessibility.

These reason make sense to me. What are the reasons to change it?

Also, the question detracts from the really important question -- this
is: Do we cover all the important and exiting facts and information
in the current draft? This is what we should think about.


Regards, 
Claus


On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:41:25 -0500
"Gervais Mulongoy" <gervais mulongoy gmail com> wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> I am requesting approval of the general structure for the 2.18 release
> notes.
>
> Below are the 4 categories that I have identified, based on the
> content of 2.16 release notes.
>
>    - About been changed)
>    - Additions - a list of all the new stuff we haven't seen yet
> (since 2.16)
>    - Improvements - a list of all the changes (which will include the
>    changes from the recap)
>    - Future - pointers for the future of Gnome
>
>
> About
>
> This section MUST contain a short description of what Gnome is and
> where it is going. It MIGHT also contain a like to the Wikipedia
> entry<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME>for Gnome, but SHOULD at
> least have a link to the Gnome about page. It
> SHOULD always have a table for easy navigation to the rest of the
> release notes. Navigation SHOULD include:
>
>    - a link to a detailed recap of the current set of features and
>    applications (which are emphasized to indicate changes).
>    - a link to the new additions page
>    - a link to the improvements page
>    - a link to the future ;)
>
> Additions
>
> This section MUST contain a list of all the newly added applications,
> games, etc. Each item in the list SHOULD have an attached screenshot
> and short description (probably supplied by the maintainers).
>
> Improvements
>
> This section MUST contain a list of all the improvements. Each item
> in the list MIGHT have an attached screenshot/graph/chart comparing
> the previous with the new (probably supplied by the maintainers).
>
> The future
>
> This section SHOULD always provide a link to community discussion and
> the roadmap for the next release. This section SHOULD contain a short
> description of the goals for the next release. It MIGHT also contain
> links to report bugs, or suggestions etc.
>
>
>
> The notes provided on the draft page will be useful to fill these
> sections up with content.
>
> Let me know what you think.
> -Gervais