more doc work (was Re: completed gataxx doc)

[Ryan Paul <gaerdin gmail com>]

On Fri, 2006-07-28 at 08:50 +0100, Joachim Noreiko wrote:
> Do you prefer big rewrites like you've just done (or
> bigger!) or small changes?
> If you'd like to work on more games manuals, that's
> fine, as they need work.

I am primarily interested in doing more "big" rewrites, but I am willing
to do small changes as well. I may be able to take on projects of
greater magnitude, but I can't commit to do so categorically at this
point, meaning that I'll have to evaluate such projects going forward to
determine if they will fit into my schedule.

> You'll get mail for any new documentation bugs --
> that'll usually be small stuff, like a mistake that
> needs fixing.

If I see something minor that I want to fix, what procedure do I follow?
Do I just make the fix and then post a patch on buzilla?

> There's some more general stuff that needs doing here:
> http://live.gnome.org/DocumentationProject/Tasks
> but I'm not sure about some of the things listed there
> -- eg, what's happening with the gparted
> documentation? We've not heard from them in ages.

I plan to continue working on docs for gnome-games, but I'd like to do
other things as well to get some variety.

> * Kill the version number in the manual title -- just
> remove ' V&manrevision;' from the <title> tag (this is
> something nearly all older docs suffer from by the
> way)
> * I agree with whoever said we don't need the
> screenshot of the main window.
> * Furthermore, in 2.14 the look of ataxx has been
> radically improved (ie it's no longer impossibly
> dark!), so the one showing the possible moves needs to
> be redone.
> * I'd remove the preferences screenshot too, as I
> don't think it adds anything. The user can easily see
> the real thing for himself.
> * Nitpick zone: the application tag is used in the
> overall manual title but not in the subheadings, eg
> '<title>Customizing Ataxx</title>'. However, I'm not
> sure which way round is correct, as I've seen a bit of
> both in our docs. Shaun, any thoughts on this? My gut
> feeling is that the title is already emphasized (then
> again, I'm not sure why the name of an app needs to be
> italicized throughout anyway)

I can do those fixes if you haven't done them already.
> 
> I'm happy to make these final tweaks myself and then
> commit :) -- though I'd appreciate someone supplying
> me with the scrneenshot of the possible moves. Perhaps
> this is a good time to use cropping and fading as
> discussed here:
> http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=348495

I can do the screenshots, including the cropping/fading. Are there
specific GTK/Metacity themes that I should use?

If there is sufficient interest, I am also willing to make a utility to
help automate the screenshot/crop/fade process. Last year I was writing
articles with lots of screenshots, and I started to get really
frustrated with the limitations of the GNOME screenshot utility. I
eventually made my own with Ruby and Glade. It does a lot of things that
the GNOME screenshot utility doesn't do. For instance, it can capture a
specific window or a specified screen region. It probably wouldn't be
that difficult to extend my utility so that it can optionally perform
the border fade operation. If enough doc writers are interested in using
something like that, I am willing to rewrite it in Python so that people
don't have to wrestle with the Ruby GNOME dependencies.

-- 
Ryan Paul <gaerdin gmail com>