Patch for guide file "ch_basics.xml"

[Geert Janssens]

On Thursday 14 October 2010, John Ralls wrote:
> On Oct 13, 2010, at 1:38 PM, jh wrote:
> > On Wed, 2010-10-13 at 17:56 +0200, Geert Janssens wrote:
> >> @@ -827,17 +830,22 @@
> >> This section talks about custom shortcuts. I am not 100% sure, but I
> >> don't think this is still possible with "recent" gnome versions. There
> >> exists still a control panel for Keyboard shortcuts [1], but it can't be
> >> used to change application shortcuts. I haven't found a gnome tool to do
> >> so easily. And even if such a tool still exists, I think it's outside
> >> the scope of a GnuCash manual to explain the exotic uses of the gnome
> >> desktop. So in my opinion this section is perhaps best removed
> >> altogether.
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > AFAIK, this functionality is now located in the file:
> >
> > .gnucash/accelerator-map
> >
> > It seems to me, that this can be edited by the user.
> > Perhaps a programmer could comment on this.
> 
> Yes, the accelerator map can be edited (though I've hijacked it a bit for
>  OSX so that editing it won't actually change anything there. There's a
>  different file buried in the bundle that over-rides the one in the user
>  directory.) There are also key bindings, which can be configured by the
>  gtkrc file.
> 
> It's difficult to explain without getting into a lot of Gtk implementation
>  detail which is likely to glaze the eyes of anyone not familiar with Gtk.
> 
> Regards,
> John Ralls
> 
> 
Thanks Juergen and John, I didn't know this.

I still doubt though that the Concepts Guide is the proper place to talk about 
this, especially the basics chapter.

As I feel it, basics chapter as it is now tries to address several audiences. 
It explains the very, well, basic things like what the main window looks like 
that you will get a accounts hierarchy druid and even as basic as explaining 
there are menus and tool bar buttons. And then in the end it adds some 
advanced knowledge about how to change keyboard shortcuts (the current text is 
outdated as well, but that's not the point I'm trying to make).

So a really novice user will read most of it and choke on the shortcuts part. 
So for a novice user the advanced information will only confuse.

An advanced user will read the first few lines of the chapter and decide it's 
not for him/her. An advanced user already understands these basics and will 
skip the chapter. So he/she will miss the one bit that probably is useful for 
his/her skill level.

As I see it, the concepts guide should focus on how to manage real world 
accounting information in GnuCash. The focus should be (and is for the most 
part), how specific accounting concepts are represented in GnuCash.

So I'd rather to add this information in the wiki instead of the concepts 
guide. Or if it has to stay in the Concepts Guide, it would better be moved 
into a new chapter near the end called "Customizing GnuCash". That chapter 
could also cover saving a report preset (easy) and writing your own reports 
(advanced).

Geert