Re: Documentation for new modules for GNOME

[Nate Nielsen <nielsen memberwebs com>]

Shaun McCance wrote:
> On Thu, 2006-11-23 at 11:00 +0000, Joachim Noreiko wrote:
>> --- Adam Schreiber <sadam clemson edu> wrote:
>>
>>> On 11/22/06, Joachim Noreiko <jnoreiko yahoo com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> That an... interesting choice of folder name for
>>> the
>>>> applet manual.
>>>> Is there a particular reason why it can't go in
>>> the
>>>> same help/ folder, or in a subfolder of help/ ?
>>>> Alternatively, you could combine them. Dictionary
>>> has
>>>> both an app and a panel applet, and one manual
>>>> covering both.
>>> I believe it was done that way because it was
>>> expedient.  I seem to
>>> remember it also had to do with PACKAGE_NAME being
>>> used to launch the
>>> seahorse manual and I was having trouble getting the
>>> appropriate file
>>> to auto-launch.  Feel free to move stuff around if
>>> it will be easier
>>> for those maintaining the documentation moving
>>> forward.  We will adapt
>>> to the new way of doing things.
>> I really don't know the app at all, and I won't be
>> able to try it until it's in a Gnome stable release.
>> But looking at the applet manual, it's very small, so
>> merging it into the main manual might be a good move
>> (but not an urgent one).
>>
>> Shaun, if you read this -- do you have any thoughts on
>> how to handle app/applet pairs in general?
> 
> I really haven't played with Seahorse yet, and I'm not sure
> of its use cases and user interactions.  If the applets is
> used for quick access to some of the functionality of the
> full application, and if they're clearly (to a user) doing
> the same thing, then I'd say there should just be one manual.
> 
> I'm not sure it's worth putting in the User Guide at this
> point.  The User Guide is getting really big, and as long
> as we're using DocBook, I'd rather it focus on very basic
> functionality.  We could perhaps add a section with a brief
> overview which then links to the Seahorse manual.

I'd suggest having a different manual. The applet is a power user
thingy, useful for those who have a specific need. Especially as
seahorse gets better and better integrated with the Desktop, the applet
will be used more and more for corner cases.

Cheers,
Nate