Docs stuff at UDS

[Jim Campbell <jwcampbell gmail com>]

Hi all,

I've been at UDS this week, and wanted to relay a couple of things that are relevant for Gnome docs. 

People have greeted the help setup and content very warmly. I've always made a point to tell people that we couldn't have done what we did with Ubuntu docs without the work that was done for Gnome docs. I know that there's some overlap between our teams, but it was the writing and tools-work done in Gnome first that made what we did in Ubuntu possible. I always make sure people know this. Thank ye.

Also, I've discussed the different approaches that we've taken with regards to layout (... comparing "User and System Settings" help with "Files Folders and Search," help) with a person from the design team, and he suggested that we could do usability testing. (I also mentioned using/not using the "descriptions" for help topics that we talked about in Toronto.) There was a session on conducting usability testing, and we took some good notes ( http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-o/meeting/design-o-run-usability-sessions/ ). 

The design person made a good point that using a consistent layout in the documentation breeds familiarity, and that it makes it easier for users to find what they are looking for. I didn't get an answer on what approach is best, but I didn't really press it. I think it will be up to us to test this out and decide on a preferred approach.

I also attended a UX book club session where we basically created a list of design and UX books that people think are helpful. That list is here: http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-o/meeting/design-o-bookclub/

That is about it for now, though. Let me know if you have any questions, or if there's something that you want me to check on in particular.

Jim