GNOME.org
 

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

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
--- Begin Message --- 
Hi Leila

Please find some details below:

1. what is in fund now from Solaris
The fund includes all Solaris related projects which 
includes (Solaris 9, Update Releases, Netscape 6.0 and 
Gnome).  The budget has to fund all projects and 
unfortunately because all projects has increased in 
volumes, we have less available to individual projects.  
I am not sure of the exact funding which remains for 
Gnome.  However,  if we do not get a wavier from the 
SOESC to deliver a mini set of the big rules, additional 
funding will have to be sources to scale with the 
increased volumes or we look to creative ways i.e. 
companies like RedFlag


> 2. what was our original estimates
The MRP funding was based on increased leverage of 
translations from the open source community.  Currently, 
the percentage of translated software is minimum with 
quality concerns and no previous translations exist for 
the online and printed documentation.  We estimate the 
current word count for both online and printed 
documentation to be 240,175 words, which was not included 
in our original estimates.
 
- online documentation 120,175 words (approx.)
- printed documentation   120,000 words (approx.)
- software 74,453 (approx.)

 
> 3. what is our required funding now for gnome
Following the Solaris model & L10N Big Rules, I estimate 
the costs to be between $1,500.0 & $1,700.0.  Of course, 
I am investigating all possibilities of reducing the 
costs example:

- Leveraging from companies whereby Gnome already exists 
translated for Linux i.e. Redflag (schedule could be a 
problem, since it may not be available for Solaris FCS 
and the only offer Korean.

- Using translation tools to reduce the unit rates

- reducing the quality - what level of testing can we 
relay on the open source community to do.

The costs of localization is linked very closely to 
quality.  The localization costs estimates are based on 
reaching Sun's quality standards.  The quality FCS 
criteria needs to be defined and could reduce costs.

I hope this helps.  I would like to purpose we arrange a 
conference call whereby Mark Son-Bell will attend, to 
discuss in more details.  


I will continue to investigate options to reduce the 
costs on my end.

Regards
Aoife




> Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 15:01:36 -0800 (PST)
> From: LEILA CHUCRI <Leila Chucri eng sun com>
> Subject: Re: Gnome L10N financial funding
> To: Aoife Dunne ireland sun com
> Cc: ken silvers eng sun com, john heard eng sun com, 
robert odea ireland sun com, lchucri carlo eng sun com, 
gary little eng sun com
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-MD5: RwL1rch94YxHCPFyIGgUHA==
> 
> Aoife, please advise with a bit more details
> 
> 1. what is in fund now from Solaris
> 2. what was our orignial estimates
> 3. what is our required funding now for gnome
> 
> please advise.
> > Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 11:40:19 -0800 (PST)
> > From: LEILA CHUCRI <Leila Chucri eng sun com>
> > Subject: Re: Gnome L10N financial funding
> > To: Aoife Dunne ireland sun com
> > Cc: robert odea ireland sun com, 
john sheehan ireland sun com, 
> gary little eng sun com, paula sager eng sun com, 
john heard eng sun com, 
> lchucri carlo Eng Sun COM
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> > Content-MD5: czEAxc1I3tnDcysDeaM3vA==
> > 
> > Hi Aoife, thank you for the update.
> > 
> > I will take this up in our meeting tomorrow.
> > 
> > Any product going into Solaris will require us to 
follow the big rules. 
> Question 
> > is, we can look at possibly getting a waiver. 
However, need to evaluate and 
> get 
> > back to you.
> > 
> > thanks
> > > Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 15:56:02 +0000 (GMT)
> > > From: Aoife Dunne - Sunsoft ELC 
<Aoife Dunne ireland sun com>
> > > Subject: Gnome L10N financial funding
> > > To: Gary Little eng sun com, 
Leila Chucri eng sun com
> > > Cc: John Sheehan ireland sun com, 
Deirdre Williams ireland sun com, 
> > Aoife Dunne ireland sun com, 
Colm Smyth ireland sun com
> > > MIME-Version: 1.0
> > > Content-MD5: gqz2UD8KIVYw+nSWd7ztQQ==
> > > 
> > > Hi Leila and Gary
> > > 
> > > Following a detailed evaluation on the localization 
costs, the 
> > > MRP budget set aside for the Gnome project is not 
sufficient.  
> > > The MRP funding was based on Gnome estimates which 
included a 
> > > greater translation leverage from the open source 
community and 
> > > the assumption that CDE would be 
support/maintenance mode.  
> > > However, the volumes in Solaris and Gnome has 
increased 
> > > dramatically, requiring additional funding or a 
reduction is the 
> > > L1ON service/support we offer to Gnome on Solaris 
users.
> > > 
> > > Of course, any decision will have to be brought 
before the SOESC 
> > > for approval. However, before we submit a one-pager 
to the SOESC, 
> > > I feel it is necessary to get a clear understanding 
of our user 
> > > requirements.
> > > 
> > > Leila and Gary how would you like to proceed?.  Do 
we have to 
> > > follow the Big Rules, What is our users acceptance 
criteria?.  
> > > What is Sun Marketing requirements?.
> > > 
> > > A few suggestions to reduce costs:
> > > ---------------------------------
> > > * L10n Tier 1 (only) in 9 languages
> > > * L10N Software only
> > > * L10N Software / Online documentation only
> > > * L10N Software / Printed documentation only
> > > * L10N Japanese only
> > > * etc..
> > > 
> > > Please let me know your thoughts, suggestions, 
comments.  
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Much appreciated
> > > Aoife
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > Best Regards,
> > 
> > 
> > Leila Chucri
> > Webtop and Applications Software
> > Product Line Manager
> > User Desktop Environments
> > ext.   87848
> > phone: 650-786-7848
> > fax:   650-786-8390 
> > 
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> 
> Leila Chucri
> Webtop and Applications Software
> Product Line Manager
> User Desktop Environments
> ext.   87848
> phone: 650-786-7848
> fax:   650-786-8390 
> 

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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