Re: help content redux

[Alexander Kirillov <kirillov math sunysb edu>]

I'll do some of the work on gnome-user-docs  and gnome-core, but I'd
rather not take responsibility as maintainer. 

By the way, talking about gnome-user-docs:

1. My feeling is, we should definitely use Sun's user guide instead of our
current one. But I also would like to keep "Intro to GNOME" etc. 

2. If the UG will indeed be translated to 9 languages, we probably do not
want to inlcude the translations in the same package "gnome-user-docs" -
otherwise, it will be *HUGE*. Instead, we should have 9 different packages
"gnome-user-docs-en", etc. - of course, all of them built from the same
CVS
module. Who is responsible for release coordination/packaging of GNOME 2.0
- should we discuss it with him/her/them?   




On Wed, 28 Nov 2001 22:03:53 -0700
"John Fleck" <jfleck inkstain net> wrote:

> Folks -
> 
> Pat's note to the list this morning made me realize we need a
> more concrete plan for updating our user documentation for GNOME 2
> than the vague "let's convert docs as soon as the apps are ready" way
> we've been doing this.
> 
> The targets keep moving, which is why I have avoided trying to push
> people into spending too much time converting documentation for
> GNOME2. But deadlines are sufficiently near that we need to be sure
> things do not slip through the cracks.
> 
> There are three lists we need to be looking at:
> 
> I. The schedule:
> 
>    http://developer.gnome.org/dotplan/schedule/
> 
>    The key deadlines here are:
> 
>    Dec. 21 - UI freeze
>    Jan. 23 - GNOME 2.0 Release Candidate 1 packages due
>    Feb. 15 - GNOME 2.0 Final release
> 
> II. The packages
> 
>    http://developer.gnome.org/dotplan/modules/
>    
>    The "Desktop" section is what we're interested in. That's what will
>    be ported to the GNOME 2 libraries for inclusion in the GNOME 2
>    release. The web page gives an idea of the porting status of
>    various apps.
> 
> III. Stuff Sun is Documenting
> 
>    John Sheehan prepared a list of the applications Sun is
>    documenting, which I've appended below.[1] Sun's plan is to make
> their
>    documentation available for the GNOME community release.
> 
>    My feeling is that we should use Sun documentation where we are
>    able - it's high quality and it will be well translated. But we're
>    not going to ram it down anyone's throat - if you've been the
>    author of a doc and prefer to use your own in GNOME 2, we're not
>    going to force you to replace your work with Sun's. John makes that
>    point pretty clearly in his message below.
> 
> Up until now, we've been pretty laissez faire about the GNOME 2 doc
> preparations. Individual documenters signed up to do documentation
> for the various apps in the past should still retain that
> responsibility as far as I'm concerned. But to make sure things don't
> slip through the cracks, I'd like to propose that we get a core group
> of GDP folks to crack heads and make sure stuff gets done.
> 
> In October I sent out a list of stuff to be done that included the
> following suggestion, which I'll repeat:
>  
>   "We need someone to ride herd over the docs for each of
>   the main packages in GNOME 2.0, to make sure documentation work is
>   coordinated with the developers and translators, that the review and
>   QA processes are completed, and that the work gets done on time.
> 
>   gnome-core - Volunteer needed
>   gnome-applets - Volunteer needed
>   gnome-games - Volunteer needed
>   gnome-utils - John Fleck
>   Nautilus - Dan Mueth
>   gnome-user-docs - Dan Mueth"
> 
> It met with a deafening silence, but I'll repeat it here. Can we get a
> few people willing to take responsibiility for these packages to be
> sure the work gets done? That means coordinating with the developers,
> with the Sun people in cases where Sun documentation is involved, and
> with the original authors.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> John Fleck
> 
> 
> [1] From John Sheehan at Sun:
> ************************************************************
> We'd be very keen to contribute apps documentation.  Our hope
> is to complete all those app docs that will be in the community 
> core and that will also be in the Sun product.
> 
> I enclose 3 lists:
> 
>   1.  Those apps which we have documented or expect to document.
> 
>   2.  Those apps which are in the proposed community 2.0 core
>       and which we do not intend to document.
> 
>   3.  Those apps which are in the existing 1.4 core but are
>       not in the proposed 2.0 core and which we defintely will 
>       not document.  I include this list in case the proposed 
>       2.0 core expands to include some of the dropped apps
> 
> Our ability to deliver the apps in the first list in time for
> inclusion in the GNOME community release depends on:
> 
>   - whether the community core definition changes.
> 
>   - whether the defined community core all gets ported.
> 
>   - the number of functional changes in core apps which
>     would require changes to documentation done so far.
> 
>   - how much time we have to complete documentation between 
>     first full beta and FCS.
> 
>   - converting to XML and new title pages, and getting agreement
>     from original maintainers to replace their document.
> 
>   - whether our user guide can replace the existing online
>     GNOME User Guide.  If so, we would like to change the target
>     of many of the Help buttons so that they point to within
>     the user guide.  This would be for Help for the Panel,
>     Menu Editor, Control Centre, Launchers, Run button, etc.
> 
> Having listed some of the issues we face, let me emphasise that
> we are determined to try and get all the apps in the first list 
> completed in time for the community FCS. 
> 
> Regards
> 
> John
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> List 1.  
> 
> 1a. Core apps we expect to complete for community FCS
> 
> 
>    Programs    Nautilus       - from the user guide
>                gedit          - written
>                Startup Hint   - not started
>                Gdict          - not started
>                Calculator     - written
>                Character Map  - written
>                Color Browser  - written
>                Font Selector  - written
>                Ghostview      - written
>                Sound Recorder - not started
>                CD player      - in progress
>                Control Centre - from the user guide
>                Menu Editor    - from the user guide
>                GNOME terminal - written
>                Shutdown/reboot- in progress
>                System Info    - in progress
>                Sys Log monitor- in progress
>                Gperfmeter     - not started (new Sun utility)
>                Gprocview      - not started (new Sun utility)
> 
>    Applets     Fish           - not started
>                geyes          - written
>                Clock          - written
>                CD player      - in progress
>                Mixer          - in progress
>                Sound Monitor  - not started
>                Clock & Mail   - not started
>                Stock Ticker   - not started
>                Deskguide      - in progress
>                Printer        - not started
>                Tasklist       - written
>                Character Pick - written
>                GNOME weather  - in progress
>                Mini-commander - written
>                ScreenShooter  - written
>                Whereami       - written
>                gdict          - not started
> 
>    Panel       Help Buttons   - from the user guide
> 
> 
> 1b.  Non-core apps 
> 
>      Documentation was started for some apps/applets which were 
>      in the 1.4 core but which have been dropped from the 2.0
>      core.  Sun may or may not include these in its 2.0 release.
> 
>                Ghex           - written
>                Time Tracker   - written
>                Eye of GNOME   - written
>                Gnotes applet  - written
>                Quicklaunch    - written
>                Webcontrol     - in progress
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> List 2.  2.0 core apps we will not document
> 
> Programs       Bug Report tool
>                GNOME Searchtool
>                Stripchart plotter
>                gfloppy
>                All games
>                xmms           - too much work at present
> 
>                
> Applets        Fifteen
>                Game of Life
>                Odometer
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> List 3.  1.4 core apps which we will not document even if they are
>          included in the 2.0 core 
> 
> Programs       GNOME diskfree
>                User listing
>                Text File Viewer
>                All monitor applets
>                Another clock
>                JBC Binary clock
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> -- 
> John Fleck
> jfleck inkstain net (h), http://www.inkstain.net/fleck/
> "A M00se once bit my sister..."
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