Steve, I would be fine with issuing a cosmetic "update" to complete the set of v7.2 user guides. IIRC, I have done that before with at least one other book, though possibly back in OO days.
I have checked the section "Creating mail merge documents" in Chapter 7, which I said I would update. I see only one figure that is out of date (top of page 11, the first figure in that section), but the change in it is minor and does not affect the instructions. It could be left as it is. I do not have a problem with bugs being mentioned or listed; in fact, as a user I would likely find them helpful if I ran into a problem with the software, and I would appreciate the honesty. However, I do agree that the wording of some statements about bugs could be made a lot more diplomatic. I agree that the book would be improved for English audiences by replacing the German examples in the sample databases, and of course all the other improvements and restructuring that others have suggested. But all that is work for a later edition. Regards, Jean On Mon, Nov 29, 2021 at 9:21 PM Steve Fanning <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Team, > > During the past few days, I have spent some time looking at the 6.4 Base > Guide as we begin to review and update it. Unfortunately, if we are to > improve the quality of the book then the task may involve significantly > more effort and time than we at first anticipated. > > This conclusion has been drawn based on my work to date and is a result > of the following main factors: > > * Previous emails have noted that the document would benefit from a > refresh of the figures. What I hadn’t considered was that the “user > data” within many of the figures is based on German examples, which > isn’t ideal for an English language document. I have also found that > the structure of the example “Media_without_Macros” database doesn’t > quite match the figures in Chapter 3 (Tables). Hence there is > additional effort needed to re-work some of the underlying sample > databases to review their structure and include English data. > * When reviewing the early sections of Chapter 3 (Tables), I was > surprised by the level of change necessary to get the detail correct > for 7.2. We can only assume that this is also the case in other > chapters (maybe Felipe and Dev could comment on whether Chapters 1 > and 2 follow this trend). > * I was a little shocked when I found out how many bugs are explicitly > referenced in the text, with links to Bugzilla, and this feels like > it could be a marketing disaster. Just to give an idea of the scope > of this problem, I found specific references to the following bugs > within the text 46180, 51452, 51453, 51959, 53027, 61871, 73707, > 80320, 82411, 82591, 87290. Also, statements like “Firebird engine > is very good, it is its implementation in base which is full of > bugs” and “The Report Builder is somewhat treacherous in use, as > certain functions are available in theory but don’t work in > practice” may be true but don’t create a great impression. > * Discussion in the mailing list has indicated that we should update > the technical content of the document in a few areas (e.g., > comparison of HSQLDB and Firebird; "Auto Grow" feature in reports; > changes to Writer and maybe Calc may affect discussions of the > interaction between Base and other LO components). > * Previous authors and editors believed that the document should be > re-structured (see for example > > https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Development/User_Guide_Tasks#Base_Guide). > > I don’t think that all the above can be addressed quickly. Therefore, to > make rapid progress (and complete the set of 7.2 guides), should we > issue the 7.2 Base Guide simply as a cosmetic update to the 6.4 version? > The ODT files have already been updated to the LO7 style and the 7.2 > book covers are available. With no substantial change then there should > be little reviewing required. However, I have already prepared an > updated Preface and it might be worth including that. > > Meanwhile we can continue reviewing/improving the material in > preparation for a future update. > > All views would be very welcome. > > Regards, > > Steve -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/documentation/ Privacy Policy: https://www.documentfoundation.org/privacy
