Initial Draft, GnuCash Help
Christian Stimming
stimming@tuhh.de
Tue, 15 Oct 2002 11:54:59 +0200
Hi,
Chris Lyttle wrote:
> I've put together the following outline of headings for GnuCash Help.
Very good work. This gives a good basis for which the current help texts
and future work can be grouped.
> My idea here is to divide the help into 2 parts, the first
> (this one) is done as an 'Application Help Manual'
Yes, sounds good.
> The second manual will use the outline developed by Carol Champagne to
> form a 'Concepts and Tutorial' simply called The GnuCash Users Guide.
It is good to have these things in a second manual. However, I was
wondering whether we could find a more expressive title -- a title that
actually says as precisely as possible what can be expected from the
inside. If that second manual basically contains several Tutorials, why
not call it "The Gnucash Tutorials". IIRC it also explains several
concepts, like double-entry accounting... maybe the title "GnuCash
Concepts & Tutorials" isn't so bad after all. The point I'm trying to
make is simply that the title "Users Guide" doesn't say much about the
content, and I would consider a more clear title to be much more helpful.
Below, I have some comments on the structure of the "Application Help
Manual".
> Introduction to GnuCash
>
> Getting Started
> First time run dialog
> New Account Hierarchy Setup
> Import QIF Files
> Gnucash Tutorial
> Tip of Day
I wouldn't consider "Gnucash Tutorial" as a sub-point of "Fist time run
dialog". How about:
Getting Started
First time run dialog
New Account Hierarchy Setup
Import QIF Files
Gnucash Tutorial
Tip of Day
> Usage
> GnuCash Windows
> Main Window
> Menus
> Menu Shortcuts
> Tool Bar Buttons
> Summary Bar
> Account Tree
> Status Bar
I would consider the "Account Tree" to be a seperate Gnucash Window,
since due to the MDI stuff it can be shown in a seperate window and you
also can have several of them. Er, due to that MDI things there simply
isn't such a thing as the "Main Window" anymore, and we should rename
that section to "Account Tree Window":
GnuCash Windows
Account Tree Window
Menus
Menu Shortcuts
Tool Bar Buttons
Summary Bar
Account Tree
Status Bar
> Report Window
> Tool Bar Buttons
> Account Register Window
> Menus
> Menu Shortcuts
> Tool Bar Buttons
> Summary Bar
> Transaction Register
What does "Transaction Register" mean? Maybe this subsection needs a
more clear title.
> Status Bar
> General Ledger Tool
> Scheduled Transaction Editor Tool
> Price Editor Tool
> Commodity Editor Tool
> Financial Calculator Tool
> Find Transactions Tool
These tools are not really top-level windows, at least not in the sense
that the Account Tree, reports, and register are. Therefore I would
suggest to group them under a seperate section heading "Dialogs", "Tool
windows", "Dialog/Tool Windows", simply "Tools", or yet something
different, like:
Tools
Scheduled Transaction Editor
Price Editor
Commodity Editor
Financial Calculator
Find Transactions
and I guess the "Scheduled Transaction" will need some sub-headings as
well :-)
> Help Window
>
> Managing Your Accounts
> Setting Up a Chart of Accounts
> Setting Up a New Account
> Types of GnuCash Accounts
> General Information
> Opening Balance
> Editing an Account
> Deleting an Account
> Changing a Chart of Accounts
> Moving From Subaccount to Parent Account
> Moving From Parent Account to Subaccount
> Moving To a Different Parent Account
That's good. I was just wondering whether we can have a more clear title
of the whole section. Would "Setup your Accounts" or "Account Setup"
state the purpose of this section more clearly? "Managing" is a very
ambiguous and broad word...
> Using The Register To Record Transactions
> Entering a Transaction
> Transaction Register
> Transfer Window
> Entering Multiple Splits
This subsection also needs a paragraph on "Entering Multi-Currency
Transactions", so the heading should be added even if this isn't yet
written.
> Editing
> Deleting
> Copying
> Jumping to another Account
> Finding
> Reconciling to a Statement
> Scheduled Transactions
> Using Entry Shortcuts
> Autofill
> Keyboard shortcuts
I would put the "Using Entry Shortcuts" more to the top, maybe even as a
subsection of "Entering a Transaction" -- or maybe even the two
subsections "Autofill" and "Keyboard Shortcuts" can simply be moved to
be subsections of "Entering a Transaction", since this is where it is
mostly used.
Also, I am wondering whether the "Reconciling" really belongs into this
chapter. Maybe it does, but maybe it could also be moved to the
"Windows"->"Tools" chapter. Either way, we could probably group the
explanation into at least two subsections:
Reconciling to a Statement
Status of a Transaction
Reconcile Window
> Gnucash Reports And Charts
> Overview of Reports and Graphs
> Types of Reports and Graphs
> Creating Standard Reports and Graphs
> Customizing Reports and Graphs
> Printing Reports and Graphs
A different grouping proposal:
Gnucash Reports And Charts
Creating
Description of all Reports and Charts
Asset & Liability
Income & Expense
[... insert the grouping from the Report Menu bar here]
Common Customization Options
Printing
> Customizing GnuCash
> Preferences
> Style Sheets
> Tax Options
Overall, this is really good work. And if you think it is possible to be
done in November, that's even better. :-)
As for translations, I don't think that *any* translator so far has
really spent a lot of time on the help. Therefore it's basically
pointless to include the help translation into our release schedule.
Maybe one or two teams might actually get involved in doing this, but so
far I can't see anyone interested. Either way, I think it is fine to go
ahead with our 1.8.0 schedule even with no translated help at all --
translation work of this kind can always go into later 1.8.x releases.
Christian