Helping your documentation effort.

[Rocco Stanzione]

On Friday 07 April 2006 10:23, Richard wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My frustration with all things "helpful" regarding Ubuntu is growing
> exponentially.
>
> I am an idiot Linux user and as I look around and try to find help on
> something the feeling of being an idiot is compounded. Trying to do
> anything from the various documentation pages exacerbates the negative
> experience.
>
> You see, you are all geeks without the understanding of what it feels
> like to be an "average user". eg. Loading Java as per the installed
> user's guide. I have just spent a fruitless half hour trying to get the
> terminal to say I have found the right directory. No joy, yet you assume
> we all know this.
>
>  This is not meant to be or sound negative, just to point out how
> hopeless someone without any knowledge of linux feels and truly how
> ineffectual  your pages are for the majority of potential users.
>
> With that all said, I have to say I am fully behind the Ubuntu efforts
> and hope to make the experience of other newcomers like me, smoother and
> happier.
>
> May I help by writing for you from the standpoint of a complete newbie?
> No prior knowledge assumed. Or "Ubuntu for Blondes".
>
> You may wonder how it would be possible for me to write on this, but I
> have done it before. Trying to learn HTML, CSS and Javascript was
> difficult, so I wrote a book using the simplest approach I could work
> out. I let a few people use it and they applauded how easy it was for
> them to set up a website. I can do this again, but I will need some
> help, and I presume that you guys would be happy to supply this.

I for one plead guilty to your charge of not knowing (or remembering) what 
it's like to have no idea what's going on.  It's very easy for us, I think, 
to miss some details.  I know it is for me.  This is because those of us who 
write the docs are generally experts on the topic we're writing on, which 
makes us susceptible to failures to see things from the point of view of 
those who need the docs.  So your input is very valuable.  The best and most 
important thing you could do, if you manage to figure out on your own what's 
missing, is to let us know exactly what that is.  Or, if it's on a wiki page, 
to add it yourself.

We try very hard to make the docs as useful and complete as possible, and if 
something's missing, we definitely want to know.  As Matthew said in another 
reply, some things can't feasibly be made easier than they are now due to 
licensing constraints, but we do strive to make the documentation as painless 
as possible.  Thanks for your input.

Rocco Stanzione