SQL HOWTO

[Linas Vepstas]

On Tue, Sep 23, 2003 at 12:49:47PM -0300, Jon Lapham was heard to remark:
> Linas et al-
> 
> I noticed you put a link to the SQL HOWTO document on the web site under 
> the documentation section sidebar.
> 
> I've been trying to minimize the number of links to documents from the 
> web site.  

I noticed. I am not sure that is a good idea.  One of my big complaints
about other projects is inadequate, hard-to-find documentation.  
Primary refernces should be one click away from the main page, not two
or more.

> I know we have a lot of things (like the SQL HOWTO, the main 
> README, the translators howto, the business howto, etc, etc) that we 
> need to make available to people.  However, I think we need to organize 
> the presentation of this material so as to not make GnuCash look like it 

OK, but no one has done that yet.
p.s. I moved and modified docs.phtml so it adheres to the style of the
rest of the site.

> is a geeks-only application.  And, I'll tell you, when my grandmother 
> reads a link called "SQL HOWTO" on the main page, her eyes will glaze 
> over...

I resent the deprecation involved. This has nothing to do with geeks, 
or your grandmother.  Your grandmother won't read it.  Its not for 
your grandmother.

One problem with a lot of commercial products is thier stupidification
of the user.  In the name of "making it easy/simple" they make it harder
for the average user.  Don't treat your users as idiots.

> So, would it be appropriate to include the SQL HOWTO in the official 
> documentation somehow?  If not, then may I move your link to the 
> documentation web page, removing it from the main page?

Why?  It makes the important links harder to find, farther away from
the user.   I've already scratching my head as to why we moved the links
there.  It makes the site harder to navigate, and it makes it harder
to find things.  If we want to make the site easy to use, the links 
should be on the main menu, not buried, as if we were embarrassed to
show them to anyone.


--linas


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