newtoubuntu docs

[Connor Imes]

Dougie Richardson wrote:
> Hi Kelvin,
>
> 2009/5/6  <kelvin at mbmn.net>:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've had a quick chat with the Ubuntu Beginners team about the "New to
>> Ubuntu" part of the systems docs. But, I need to get more feedback from
>> them, which I'll do over the next couple of weeks. Also, I think I'll post
>> on the Ubuntu Forums to try to get feedback from newer users.
>>     
>
> There needs to be some care taken here because there is a risk of
> duplication with the proposed installation guide, in particular not to
> turn it into another switching from Windows guide.
>   
+1
> I'm not clear why feedback from the beginners team is important here.
> I can see a need to identify common issues for new users but I'm not
> sure why that should come from the beginners team rather than looking
> through the forums ourselves or by identifying trends from commonly
> reported bugs.
>   
The Beginners Team does have a lot of experience dealing with the 
forums, so I think their input on subjects relating to issues recognized 
there is important.  However, as Dougie mentioned, I don't think we need 
to go to the forums to ask users what problems they have, we can draw 
conclusions based on the types of threads we see from beginners.  It's 
good for the doc team to do this, but speaking with BT members involved 
with documentation is also an excellent approach since they use the 
forums on a regular basis, and their main purpose is to help beginners.
>   
>> I'm starting to think about drafting some words for the new "What is
>> Ubuntu" and "How to get help" sections and keeping away from the more
>> "technical" content until I get more feedback. If anyone has any input let
>> me know.
>>
>> I'd like to write the pages in docbook rather than in plain text and have
>> them "wrapped" by someone else (I have experience in other mark-up
>> languages). Since I'm new to the team it would be useful to have mentor
>> that I can direct queries to. Would any one like to mentor me.
>>     
>
> I'm happy to mentor you but I think its essential that any questions
> you have are CC'd to the mailing list because there is a good chance
> someone else is thinking the same things.
>   
+1 for using the mailing list.  Also, using the #ubuntu-doc channel on 
IRC is a good place to get feedback, it is starting to get used more 
than in the past, and I believe that is a really good thing.

-Connor