Books/guides vs. help

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

On Jun 24, 2006, at 6:58 PM, Richard Johnson wrote:
>
> On Saturday 24 June 2006 01:16, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> ...
>> On further thought, Ubuntu Help (as seen in the help viewer) should
>> have help of the form "What is the equivalent of X", where X is some
>> term used in Windows (Favorites, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, 
>> My Documents, C drive, etc). Ubuntu Help Online (help.ubuntu.com) 
>> should concentrate more on how to prepare for the switch 
>> (transferring bookmarks, transferring e-mail and address book, 
>> transferring desktop background).
> ...
> I had sent out an email earlier this week talking about how it could 
> be useful to detail the changes from your Windows terms as you put it 
> Matthew, and show how they would do the same things in Ubuntu. I have 
> setup 3 default installs via VMware server, Ubuntu Dapper, Kubuntu 
> Dapper, and WinXP, so I could screenshot the XP common stuff and 
> compare it to the Ubuntu/Kubuntu way. Also I thought about doing the 
> same thing as Windows, but for Office, Internet, E-mail, Chat, and 
> anything else a user may have done in Windows. We could make this as 
> detailed a guide as possible to the point it could be utilized as a 
> book in the future. I read someone state this could be a lulu port.
> New users like pictures when it comes to things like this and great
> documentation, which this team has shown in the past.

I strongly encourage you to decide whether you want this to be a book, 
or on-screen help. Please don't try to do both with the same text.

Good books often have sequential chapters or sections and subsections.
Good on-screen help has individual pages that make sense by themselves.

Good books often have sections hundreds or thousands of words long.
Good on-screen help has pages of no more than about three paragraphs.

Good books tell you what, why, when, how, where, and who.
Good on-screen help concentrates ruthlessly on how and where.

Good books often have illustrations, in color if possible.
Good on-screen help avoids illustrations, because people click on them.

Good books often have colophons, telling you how the book was made.
Good on-screen help does not, because they're not helpful.

Good books often have tables, charts, and diagrams.
Good on-screen help has "Show Me" buttons.

Good books have footnotes and citations.
Good on-screen help has hyperlinks.

> This could very well be a big hit, and I would love to help out on 
> this project definitely.
> ...

Excellent.

-- 
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/