Re: Work in progress documentation design

[Allan Day <allanpday gmail com>]

Petr Kovar <pmkovar gnome org> wrote:
...
> >  1. Investigate merging the Getting Started documentation into
> > gnome-user-docs, in order to avoid duplication of material.
>
> We've discussed this a few times before and the reasons why these two
> modules are separate still apply. The most important factor here is the
> module size. Video files are big and the module / package gets even bigger
> with every new translation. ...

Sorry, I should have mentioned - I've been discussing dropping the
videos with Jakub, and going for static images only instead.

> Also, I don't think there is any duplication of content.

I disagree - there's quite a strong overlap between "Getting Started"
and "Introduction to GNOME".

> For the user, it's
> really hard to say whether these two documents are technically separated
> into two modules or not.

That's true. The advantage would be more to ensure that the docs are
developed as a single coherent entity, by organising them according to
what users actually see.

> >  2. Update the "home screen" designs. I've become dissatisfied with
> > the latest mockups [1] I did for this, primarily because they don't
> > give you direct links into content items - this increases the number
> > of navigation steps, and doesn't draw the user in as it should.
>
> Well, this is tricky. You can either provide a list of direct links to very
> basic topics like we do in getting-started, or you can provide a more
> comprehensive list with a broader scope, but that means you have to
> sacrifice something. ...

It certainly could have implications for the structure of the desktop
help, yes. But maybe that's not such a bad thing, if it makes it
easier to navigate...

> > As I did research for these tasks, I started to compile a list of
> > goals and principles [2]. ...
> I like the principles, in general.  I think they can be applied to the
> help content provided in all GNOME modules.

Cool, I'm glad to hear that. Let me know if you think of anything that
should be added.

Allan