New to Ubuntu -> Basic Skills

[Matthew East]

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Hi,

* Will Simpson:
> Matt, thanks for putting up with all my confusion and questions.

Not at all, the confusion is not your fault at all, but rather ours :)

> I'm
> still trying to get my mind around how I can help? Are there specific
> things I can do? The last couple of things I've contributed have been
> unneeded because of changes in the help package design which I didn't
> know about. How do I find out about these design changes?

Well, we are kinda making them up as we go along, there are various
parts of our material that is not 100% clear about where it fits into a
coherent structure and we are still trying to work those out. Please
don't get discouraged simply because you have arrived at a time where we
are trying to work those things out - we'll get there!

Here is a list of anything (from the Ubuntu side at least) which is not
yet certain to be included (at least in the format it is currently in):

* Anything in ubuntu/C/misc
* ubuntu/C/getting-help
* ubuntu/C/office
* ubuntu/C/programming
* ubuntu/C/games

(In respect of the latter three, see the separate thread I started
recently about what to do with this material).

So things which are reasonably safe for you to work on are:

* about-ubuntu
* add-applications
* internet
* musicvideophotos
* newtoubuntu
* switching
* printing

Some ideas for specific tasks you could do are: have a look at the
Ubuntu Book material we have and try to integrate some of that material
(where appropriate, and in an appropriate style) into our existing
material. Alternatively, if you know anything about modems or connecting
to the internet in general, the "internet -> connecting to the internet"
section could do with a bit of work.

> What I've done so far has been helpful in getting me
> initiated with DocBook and the svn package management but I'm afraid
> we'll move away from those also. I'm not afraid of change, I embrace
> it, but I'd like a little bit of a guide or roadmap.

No, for now those tools are not going to change. If in the (long term)
future they do, what you've learned will be very exportable and you'll
pick up anything new quickly.

> How do we link to the upstream help? Do we need to add <ulink> info to
> the locally installed gnome help files to our files to create this
> link to upstream?

So there are two ways to integrate upstream material. First of all, by
including a link to a document directly into our structure (that's what
I am going to try and do in trunk/ubuntu/C/newtoubuntu/newtoubuntu.xml
with the Gnome User Guide). Secondly, by simply inserting a link in a
passage which is relevant. For example, maybe in the Music section, it
is relevant to give a link to all the manuals (that the user has
installed) which deal with Music. In such a case, we can insert a
prominent link to the page where Yelp will display all the installed
manuals in relation to Multimedia applications (<ulink
url="x-yelp-toc:#ApplicationsMultimedia">manual for multimedia
applications</ulink>). This will ensure that the user can actually
navigate to these upstream manuals.

> What part of the help is not going to be from upstream?

Well, most of it really - anything you see in our repository and gets
shipped in ubuntu-docs is not from upstream.

Hope I've made things slightly clearer, if not yet 100% clear :)

Matt
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