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Please ignore: Re: usability testing (was Re: Documentation development processes.)

Hi All
Sorry, I sent this in error, I am working on many projects 
and sent it to the wrong project team.
Aoife

> Delivered-To: gnome-doc-list gnome org
> Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 16:14:24 +0000 (GMT)
> From: Aoife Dunne - Sunsoft ELC 
<Aoife Dunne ireland sun com>
> Subject: Re: usability testing (was Re: Documentation 
development processes.)
> To: gnome-doc-list gnome org, jfleck inkstain net, 
John Sheehan ireland sun com
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> X-BeenThere: gnome-doc-list gnome org
> X-Loop: gnome-doc-list gnome org
> X-Mailman-Version: 2.0beta5
> List-Id: GNOME documentation issues 
<gnome-doc-list.gnome.org>
> 
> Hi John
> Apologies for the late response, but I would just like to 
> highlight that funding to translate into all 9 languages is 
> still a concern.   We are currently investigating all 
options.
> 
> Aoife
> 
> > Delivered-To: gnome-doc-list gnome org
> > Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 11:13:44 +0000 (GMT)
> > From: John Sheehan <John Sheehan ireland sun com>
> > Subject: Re: usability testing (was Re: Documentation 
> development processes.)
> > To: gnome-doc-list gnome org, jfleck inkstain net
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> > Content-MD5: hx6IfIuZXKyiXG/ADawyAQ==
> > X-BeenThere: gnome-doc-list gnome org
> > X-Loop: gnome-doc-list gnome org
> > X-Mailman-Version: 2.0beta5
> > List-Id: GNOME documentation issues 
> <gnome-doc-list.gnome.org>
> > 
> > 
> > Hi John,
> > 
> > First let me reintroduce myself. I work in Desktop Ops in 
Sun 
> with 
> > overall responsibility for release engineering and 
> documentation for 
> > Gnome on Solaris.  Although I have management 
responsibility 
> for the 
> > Gnome on Solaris documentation strategy, I am not on the 
> Gnome Style 
> > Team as one of the earlier mails on this thread may have 
lead 
> you to 
> > believe, so Pat brought your following question to my 
> attention: 
> > 
> > On Tue, 23 Jan 2001 07:25:36 -0700, John Fleck wrote:
> > > 
> > > This would be great - the things you learn will then be 
> able to feed
> > > back into our work. But I'm confused. This makes it 
sound 
> as though
> > > Sun may be packaging its own, different Gnome 
> documentation? Or are
> > > you talking here about simply doing such testing on 
*any* 
> piece of
> > > documentation that's part of a piece of Gnome being 
shipped 
> by Sun?
> > > 
> > Your question is pertinent, and we would like to share 
our 
> documentation 
> > strategy ideas with the gnome-doc-list alias. 
> > 
> > Attached is a documentation strategy outline regarding 
the 
> Gnome on 
> > Solaris desktop that Sun will ship. As you can see from 
our 
> documentation 
> > strategy, there are compelling reasons why we will indeed 
> package our 
> > own Gnome documentation for Gnome 2.0 on Solaris release. 
 We 
> will on an 
> > ongoing basis contribute any work we do back to the Gnome 
> community. And
> > we will continue to work as part of the GDP so that we 
can 
> converge our 
> > work.
> > 
> > We appreciate all comments and feedback, 
> > 
> > Regards, 
> > 
> > John Sheehan
> > 
> > 
> 
*************************************************************
**
> ***********
> > 
> > Sun Documentation Strategy for the Gnome Desktop
> > ================================================
> > 
> > We have only just formulated our approach as to how we 
might 
> provide
> > Gnome documentation that fully meets the expectations of 
our 
> Solaris users. 
> > The documentation strategy matches the manner in which 
Sun is 
> planning to 
> > release the Gnome desktop on Solaris.
> > 
> > Gnome on Solaris Release Strategy
> > -----------------------------------
> > 
> > For the next major release of Solaris we expect to ship 
Gnome 
> 2.0 as the 
> > Solaris desktop.  Sun will probably ship Gnome on 2 CDs:
> > 
> >   1. The primary CD will be what we call supported Gnome 
and 
> >      consists of packages that are: 
> >      
> >        - Fully integrated with Solaris
> >        - Thoroughly tested on Solaris.
> >        - Documented in a consistent style.
> >        - Translated 100% into 9 languages (Swedish, 
French
> >          German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and 
> Simplified
> >          and Traditional Chinese
> >        - Fully supported by Sun in the field through the 
> normal 
> >          Sun support channels
> >          
> >      The supported Gnome release may not correspond to 
the 
> community's
> >      core Gnome but it should be close.  If we omit 
community 
> core 
> >      packages it may be because they do not apply to 
Solaris, 
> for 
> >      example gfloppy, or we do not have the resources to 
> translate 
> >      what we would consider to be lower priority apps 
such as 
> Fish 
> >      or XBill.  Also, Evolution will be on the supported 
> Gnome CD 
> >      regardless of whether it is considered to be a Gnome 
> Core App or 
> >      an Extra App.  
> >          
> >   2. The second CD will be unsupported Gnome which 
consists 
> of: 
> >  	
> >      - Any core apps omitted on the first CD
> >      - Extra Apps such as Gimp, Dia, and SodiPodi.  
> >      
> >      These apps will be built for Solaris but our testing 
> will only 
> >      extend to a very quick smoke test.
> >      
> >      They will be shipped with whatever level of 
> documentation and
> >      translation exists.  These apps will not be 
supported 
> through
> >      the standard Sun support channels.
> >      
> > At later releases after Gnome 2.0, we would expect to 
migrate 
> apps 
> > and applets over time from the unsupported CD to the 
> supported CD.
> > 
> > 
> > Printed Documentation
> > ---------------------
> > 
> > For the supported Gnome, we will write the following 
> documentation 
> > for Gnome 2.0.
> > 
> >  - A Gnome User Guide of approx 400 pages covering 
Desktop, 
> Panels
> >    Windows, Nautilus, Help, Evolution, and the Control 
> Center.  It
> >    will have paragraph descriptions of the supported 
> apps/applets
> >    but we leave the full description to their Online Help 
> reference 
> >    manuals.  
> > 
> >    While there seems to be a preference in the GDP to go 
for 
> general
> >    books on Gnome, for example a comprehensive O'Reilly 
> publication, 
> >    Solaris users will expect a user guide that documents 
> exactly the 
> >    product that we ship. 
> >     
> >    While we hope the guide will be neutral (i.e. without 
> references 
> >    to flavors of Unix, including Solaris), it will not be 
> agnostic.  
> >    It will not mention Linux, KDE, window managers other 
than 
> >    Sawfish, File Managers other than Nautilus, or any app 
> that is 
> >    not shipped as part of our supported Gnome release.  
> >  
> >  - A CDE to Gnome Migration Guide, to convert CDE 
preferences 
> to
> >    equivalent Gnome preferences. 
> >   
> >  - A Developers Overview Guide which for Gnome 2.0 will 
be 
> slim, 
> >    and will indicate developer issues specific to 
Solaris, 
> and will 
> >    direct users to the Gnome web pages for generic 
developer 
> >    information.
> >   
> >  - A Sys Admin Guide.  We are not yet sure what should be 
in 
> this,
> >    but know we need one!
> >   
> > All the printed documentation will be written in SolBook 
> since this
> > is the format mandated by the Sun Publications Group. 
SolBook 
> is
> > a subset of of DocBook V3.1, and the guides will be 
available 
> to the 
> > GDP in DocBook format. 
> > 
> > 
> > Online Help
> > -----------
> > 
> > At the moment Gnome Online Help is almost without 
> translation, and 
> > we expect to have to do much of the translation 
ourselves, at 
> least 
> > for Gnome 2.0. This is a big effort. Clearly, for 
consistency 
> and cost, 
> > we would like to leverage parts of our User Guide and its 
> translations 
> > for general Gnome Help such as the Panel Manual, the 
Window 
> Manager 
> > Manual or the Control Center Manual.
> > 
> > For other applets and applications, there are accepted 
issues 
> with
> > the Online Help reference manuals that prevent us from 
using 
> and 
> > translating the reference manuals in their current form. 
The 
> most 
> > crucial of the issues concerning the Online Help 
reference 
> manuals are:
> > 
> >   - There is no consistent style and terminology.
> >   - There is no editorial and approval process.
> >   - They were not written for translatability, and 
clearly 
> will be
> >     difficult and very costly to translate.
> >   - They include statements regarding bug status and 
support 
> channels
> >     that do not hold true for Sun.
> >     
> > The GDP are now addressing the need for style guides and 
> approval
> > processes. However, to meet the requirements of our users 
in 
> the 
> > likely Gnome 2.0 timescale, we need to embark internally 
on a 
> > reworking of the existing Online Help reference manuals 
that 
> will be 
> > part of our supported Gnome release, to ensure 
consistency 
> and 
> > translatability.  
> > 
> > In the post-Gnome 2.0 timeframe, we hope to be able to 
merge 
> our work 
> > into the style guides and processes that are now being 
> developed within 
> > the GDP. We will also continue to work actively in the 
> meantime to 
> > contribute to the development of the GDP style guides and 
> processes. 
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > gnome-doc-list mailing list
> > gnome-doc-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-doc-list
> 
> Aoife Dunne
> European Localisation Centre
> Sun Microsystems Ireland Ltd
> Hamilton House
> East Point Business Park
> Dublin 3
> Ireland
> Tel.:  	+353-1-8199-266
> Fax:.	+353-1-8199-261
> Email:	aoife dunne Ireland Sun COM
> 

Aoife Dunne
European Localisation Centre
Sun Microsystems Ireland Ltd
Hamilton House
East Point Business Park
Dublin 3
Ireland
Tel.:  	+353-1-8199-266
Fax:.	+353-1-8199-261
Email:	aoife dunne Ireland Sun COM
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