Wiki Landing Page

David T. sunfish62 at yahoo.com
Fri May 26 02:30:01 EDT 2017


I would like to propose substantial changes to the Wiki landing page (https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/GnuCash <https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/GnuCash>), a page I can’t edit. I apologize in advance for the length and complexity of this email, but that’s the price to pay for control.

For ease of analysis, I have put 

{Begin}--------------- and 
{END}-------------------

around the proposed wiki text. I should also note that there are many minor edits in my texts, beyond the higher-level reorganization. Finally, I include comments about changes in a section immediately after that section.

Now, on to the edits!

First off, the complexity of the page recommends an opening table of contents with the following (linked) top level headings:

1) Available Documentation
1.x) Wiki Translation
2) Installation
3) Support Options
4) Developing for GnuCash

This table of contents should include secondary headings as appropriate.

Note that I propose demoting the Wiki Translation section as a subsection of Available Documentation, since the wikis are, after all, a part of the documentation. I wonder whether there is a better way to handle this, though. I recognize that it is important to get speakers of other languages to their native language sites, but I wonder if there is a way to mimic what www.gnucash.org does, with language links at the top?

Additionally, I recommend promoting Installation to a primary level since this is a subject that comes up regularly, and this will bring this always-contentious issue into more prominence.

Stylistically overall, the page needs bullet entries to begin with a name of the entity being described. For example, under Wiki Translation, the bullets should begin with “German Language Wiki,” “Spanish Language Wiki,” and “Portugese Language Wiki.” This convention should be applied consistently in each section, and will allow the table of contents to make sense.

Under Available Documentation, I propose the following:

{BEGIN}-------------------------------------
1. Available Documentation
1.1 Official GnuCash Documentation. GnuCash offers two major pieces of documentation: 
	• The Help Manual {linked} - a quick reference manual for specific tasks, and
	• The Tutorial and Concepts Guide {link} - an in-depth guide to the concepts. It is highly recommended to read at least the first chapters of the guide.
	For the latest documentation (i.e., unstable releases of the documentation), or to get documentation for other languages or earlier releases, see the Documentation page on the GnuCash.org website {link}.

1.2 GnuCash Wikis 
	(Parts of) this wiki have been translated into other languages or contain information for one specific language only. 
	• The German Wiki {link} de/GnuCash Deutsche Wiki-Seiten, im Entstehen.
	• The Spanish Wiki {link} es/GnuCash Wiki español.
	• The Portugese Wiki {link} pt/GnuCash Sítio Wiki em Português, em andamento.

1.3 The GnuCash FAQ {link} contains the collection of frequently asked questions about GnuCash, including administration, accounting, and glossary questions.

1.4 Using GnuCash collects real life experiences using GnuCash. You may find (user) solutions here that are not covered by the documentation.

1.5 The Wiki Glossary explains some often used terms, with additional terms useful for developers, documentation writers, and translators.

1.6 More Specific Topics [NOTE: I think this needs re-thinking generally; I believe these pages should be linked in elsewhere altogether. In the interest of moving the discussion along, I have kept them here, but see below]
	• "Normal” Usage
		• Keyboard Shortcuts
		• Using Scheduled Transactions
		• Online Banking: Setting up OFXDirectConnect in GnuCash 2 and AqBanking (FinTS/HBCI)
		• Trading Accounts (New since 2.3.8/2.4.0)
	• Scripting and Programming
		• How to create some Custom Reports
		• Python Bindings
		• Notes about the C API
		• The GnuCash API
	• Error Seaching
		• Logging messages and filtering detail.
		• Getting a Stack Trace.
1.7 External Documentation Resources
	• GnuCash Quick Start Guide For Business Users. 
	• Also, business users might be interested in a book by PacktPub, UK: GnuCash 2.4 Small Business Accounting, by Ashok Ramachandran.
	• List to external international documentation and a somewhat outdated list of available online documentation.

{END}----------------------------------

I recommend that the section currently in Documentation called “Some more specific topics:” should be moved off this page altogether. 
The “Normal” Usage and Scripting and Programming sections could be moved to the Using GnuCash page, and the Error Searching section should be moved below to the Support Options section, or to the page on filing a bug.

Moving on, Installation should similarly be modified:

{BEGIN}----------------------------------

2. Installation
Installation instructions for the different operating systems under which GnuCash operates are included below.
2.1 Linux
	• Debian, Debian packages
	• Gentoo
	• Mandriva
	• RedHat: FC5, RHEL4, CentOS4.3, RHEL5 / SL5.
	• SuSE
	• Slackware
	• Ubuntu

2.2 Windows
	• GnuCash runs on Windows. Download the binary package from sourceforge.net.

2.3 Mac OS X
	• GnuCash runs on Mac OS X. Download the binary package from sourceforge.net.
	• For compiling GnuCash on Mac OS X, see MacOSXInstallation and specific MacOSX/Quartz tips.

2.4 Other Operating Systems
	• FreeBSD
	• Solaris

{END}----------------------------------

NextSupport Options modifications:

{BEGIN}----------------------------------

3) Support Options
If you read the relevant parts of the pages above and are still stuck with a problem or only wish to give some feedback, you can contact us in several ways.

3.1 Current discussion
	• Mailing Lists. Most users will probably contact the GnuCash user community through the appropriate language user mailing list (gnucash-user, gnucash-de, gnucash-nl, gnucash-it, gnucash-es, gnucash-fr, gnucash-br).
	Additional information can be found at wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists.
	• IRC Chat. Some users may wish to use IRC chat, usually in english, as the quickest way to get answers.

3.2 External support pages
These external support sites have subsections related to Gnucash. They are not maintained by the gnucash team, so there is no guarantee on the correctness of the information you will find here.
	• Stack Exchange. Includes a forum on money with "gnucash" tagged questions.

3.3 Feature requests and bug tracking
	• Bugzilla. GnuCash's bug database for error reports and enhancement requests.
	• Uservoice Forum. For more general feature requests.

3.4 Third party tools
Several users have published tools to work with Gnucash.

{END}----------------------------------

Note that “Third Party Tools” isn’t about support, but I can’t figure out where it would fit on this page. Should there be a main section for “Other Resources”? 


Finally, Developing for GnuCash:

{BEGIN}----------------------------------

4) Developing for GnuCash
You may also want to check out http://www.gnucash.org/ for the latest news.

This part of the wiki is intended to become the main repository of GnuCash developer documentation. Some formerly static pages have been moved here from the Website http://www.gnucash.org, but the move is not yet complete. Some remaining static pages may be out of date. Wherever a wiki article disagrees with a static web page on the Website, the wiki article here is more likely to be correct.

4.1 Getting involved in the project
The GnuCash Project is a volunteer-driven organization. We need your help to survive and grow, to help others and to help the Project. 
There are many ways to contribute your knowledge and experience. Contributing to GnuCash identifies a number of ways to get involved. Below are general ways.

4.2 Mailing Lists
Subscribing to the mailing lists, and asking and answering questions there, is an excellent way to begin contributing the the success of GnuCash. See the Mailing lists wiki page for more.

4.3 Filing Bugs and Enhancement Requests
Improvements and fixes can be submitted using the Bugzilla bug tracker; more general suggestions can be made via the uservoice pages. See {link} for more.

4.4 Developing the Documentation
	• Documentation Update Instructions. This page describes the process to change both the GnuCash Tutorial and Concepts Guide and the Help Manual.
	• Doxygen Documentation. The Doxygen source documentation system and its wiki page.

4.5 Translating the Documentation
	• Translations gives an overview of this process, but please keep an eye on the Translation Status.

4.6 Developing the Application Code
4.6.1 Policy
	• Our Development Process
	• Coding Standards
	• Testing

4.6.2 Procedures
	• Git access
	• Building GnuCash from source code.
	• Notes about the Graphical User Interface aka GUI
	• Some notes about the GnuCash XML format for the XML Backend.
	• The schema for the SQL Backend.

4.6.3 Other Development Notes
	• How to improve or add new Account Hierarchy Templates.
	• Reminders for the Project Administration
	• Special events
		• There was a Bounty Program in June / July 2013
		• GSoC Google Summer of Code

4.6.4 Future developments
	• Our Release Schedule
	• Future Roadmap
	• A general edited list of requested enhancements: WishList
	• Particular enhancements:
		• Concept Guide
		• Budgets
		• Credit Notes
	• Old discussions about enhancement requests that have been implemented.
		• Upgrade from 1.8.9 to 1.8.10 and HBCI online banking support
	• Discussion about the License

{END}----------------------------------

Under Future Developments, I think that the Particular Enhancements and Old Discussions could be eliminated. Given that the WishList page says that it is irrelevant, perhaps it should go too (not to mention the entire page).



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