Alexandre, You've put a large amount of thought and effort into this - thank you!
I really like what you've done. I had attempted to start with nothing and come up with a logical workflow outline, but you've done far more than that by addressing issues and problems you've been thinking about for a while. I especially like the idea of making the manual available as a context-sensitive help file. I was considering the possibility, but in a different manner. I think this addresses it nicely. Can you post this to the wiki (if you haven't already)? I think it's easier to review and comment if it's in a hierarchical format with some markup available for emphasis. I'll try to get to it in the next couple of days when my head is a little clearer than right now. JF Alexandre Prokoudine wrote: > On 10/19/07, Joshua Facemyer / Impressus Art wrote: > > >> Alexandre, do you have a TOC yet that you can post to the wiki page for >> discussion and comparison? I'm excited to see what you have, and get >> things started. I'm ready to do the work! >> > > Hi, > > Here is the idea. > > Documentation is usually written in three styles: > > 1) A reference, which is used for context-sensitive help: fire up a > dialog, press F1 and then you see a window, where every dialog's > option is explained. > > 2) A book that goes from basics (e.g. what is vector graphics, what is > different about Inkscape in comparison to Adobe Illustrator/Corel > DRAW/Xara Xtreme/etc.) to difficult subjects (e.g. creating a reliable > color managed PDF oriented workflow) > > 3) A book that provides detailed hints, i.e. task-oriented approach, > i.e. tutorials. > > What we currently have is: > > - a manual in form of a book by Tav (1); > - a manual that seems to have both 1) and 2), by Kevin and Cedric and Elisa; > - a number of tutorials (3). > > I have a deep respect for Tav and I would like to avoid as much > duplication of efforts as possible. At least at this stage of > Inkscape's development. > > My suggestion is to try following GIMP way in two directions: > > 1) Create a TOC that has elements of (1), but is more like (2) so that > both context sensitive help (whenever we have it) and book-like > representation make sense. > > 2) Investigate possibility to have this context-sensitive help that is > really a must for a mature application (which Inkscape already is). > > Now this might reveal a question, how tutorials would fit this model. > What I'm thinking about is: tutorials should concentrate on practical > use of Inkscape only and give only basic theory if any. Most > background knowledge should come from the manual. Ideally, whenever a > user reads a large chapter and wants to experiment, there should be a > tutorial on the subject for him to give a number of advices and > illustrations and a lot of place to practice. > > As for the currently suggested outline > (http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/UserManualOutline), there I > things I like and things I dislike. > > Let's take toolbox. I disagree on grouping. This is a difficult thing > to do and I don't claim to be a Absolutely Right Guy :) Why this is > difficult: it's easy to separate most tools into three groups: > > 1) Drawing tools: rectangle, ellipse, 3D box, star, spiral, pencil, > pen, callygraphic pen > 2) Transformation tools: node tool, tweak tool > 3) Color tools: bucket fill, gradient fill, eye-drop > > But note three problems arising immediately: > > 1) Tweak tool has two modes that fit the 3rd group (color tools) > 2) A number of tools can't be grouped: selector, zoom, text, connector, > 3) Object->Transform... cries for inclusion into 2nd group :))) > > How can we solve these 3 issues? Here is an idea. > > 1) Describe color related modes inside Tweak tool chapter, but > reference those in Color tools section. > > 2a) Create a single chapter on selecting. Update corresponding > tutorial to match most recent changes like touch selection and provide > a couple of difficult real-life samples for users to practice using > this feature, and link to this turorial from online reference. > > 2b) Create a single chapter on using Text tool. > > 2c) Create a chapter on navigating documents with subchapters for > zooming and panning. Let panning be a virtual tool with many faces :) > > 2d) Create a separate chapter on Connector tool (or make it a > Diagramming Tools chapter that describes Connector too only -- I don't > like this approach though). > > 3) Describe Transformations dialog in chapter on handling objects and > link to this chapter from Transformation Tools chapter. > > Then we go to "Advanced Topics" and other sections. I'm not quite sure > this is a good approach. Using Fill'n'Stroke dialog is by no means > advanced topic ;-) and you can easily make up scenarios where oher > part of advanced/supr advanced are required for not advanced use cases > as well. > > Here is my proposal. Inkscape already has a really well logically > separated menu. We could just borrow from it. Then we would have > something like this: > > Basics (already outlined, needs some refinement) > > Documents > - Document properties > - Creating templates > - Metadata > > Toolbox > - Selector > - Navigation tools > - Drawing tools > - Transformation tools > - Color tools > - Text > - Connector > > Objects > - copying and pasting (+ styles) > - transformations > - grouping > - cloning > - whatever else > > Layers > - you know what we need here > > Paths > > Colors > - fill'n'stroke > - swatches > - color management > - link to gradient tool > - probably "clean up defs" > > Patterns > > Effects > - modification effects > - raster effects > - Live Path Effects > - SVG filters > - creating new effects (i.e. Python scripts tutorial) > > Setting up Inkscape (Preferences) > > Additional help resources > - everything from Help menu > - copy of > - mailing lists > > Here is why I separate two setting up topic (documents and > preferences) this way. We definitely want our users be productive and > transparently teach them to work the right way. Starting with > understanding concept of documents and templates would imply that > reusing is a good thing and the right way to go from scratch. At the > same time tuning Inkscape via Preferences dialog implies some actual > experience. > > This approach has its own weak sides (e.g. where Icon Preview and XML > editor should go), feel free to annihilate it :) > > Alexandre > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. > Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. > Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. > Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ > _______________________________________________ > Inkscape-docs mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-docs > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Inkscape-docs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-docs
