Documenting Launchpad for Ubuntu users

[Matthew Revell]

On Thu, 2006-12-21 at 16:40 +1300, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:

> Uh oh, that sounds like something I said. :-> I do think that, say, one 
> hour spent making Launchpad itself more obvious has about the same 
> benefit as five hours spent documenting it on a separate Web site. 

If we choose not to explain Launchpad, that doesn't give us more time to
spend on UI design or implementation. Also, I'm not sure that UI,
however good, would be able to explain the concepts behind Launchpad or
its relevance to Ubuntu users.

> The latter is easier, but the former affects 100% of users instead of just 
> those few who read the documentation.

I think you're making two assumptions that I wouldn't:

- documentation does no more than describe how to use UI
- the number of users that find documentation useful is small enough to
be insignificant.

I'm happy to be corrected :)

I reckon that the potential for growth of the Ubuntu user-base lies
mainly outside the existing FOSS community. Even relatively experienced
computer users need help in understanding the concepts of Launchpad and
how it relates to Ubuntu.

Of course, we should aim for a UI that is self-explanatory. Good UI
doesn't negate the need for documentation, though, particularly when
dealing with people whose experience is different to that of the typical
FOSS geek.

> I think anything mentioning Launchpad, in the help shipped with Ubuntu, 
> would be about one paragraph long or so. More detail would belong on 
> the Web site.

I'd be interested to know what purpose you'd see that paragraph serving.

-- 
Matthew Revell
Launchpad Marketing, Canonical Ltd.

Telephone: +44 (0)1902 585609
SIP: 2585609 at sipgate.co.uk
Skype: matthewrevell

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