[GNC-dev] Register Documentation Improvements (was Re: [GNC] Column widths again)

Tue Aug 21 11:54:26 EDT 2018

> On Aug 21, 2018, at 7:12 AM, David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> David,
> 
> I haven’t advocated for renaming the documents. I changed a couple of headings on the main wiki page.
> 
> There are two documents, 
> 
> 1) the Help Manual
> and
> 2) the Tutorial and Concepts Guide
> 
> as outlined at gnucash.org.
> 
> One might refer to them respectively as the “Help” and the “Guide”. There is no "Help Guide.”
> 
> As for Adrien’s question regarding what goes where, there was a discussion a few years back on precisely this issue—i.e., on what exactly is meant by "Help Manual” and “Tutorial and Concepts Guide” and what, therefore should go into each document. I can’t put my hands on that thread right now, but the upshot was that the Help was seen by most as the place that identifies “this button does this function” kinds of instruction, while the Guide is intended to contain “if I am trying to accomplish goal X, here is how to do that.” These categories are admittedly fuzzy around the edges. I admit that I am more of a “how do I do X” kind of person, and so have worked most on upgrading the Guide.

I think John addressed this very well in the other thread about Wiki main page editing. His description of the two documents should probably now be put on the website as well.

> 
> Finally, the website was redesigned <mumble-mumble> years ago, and the current generic addressing scheme was implemented at that time. I commented on it at the time, but we never came to any resolutions. I suspect some kind of batter and breadcrumb solution (along with a flash frying in a nice deep fryer) might help with navigation. When I am directing someone to a specific page in the documentation, I right-click the link to the page in question, and copy  the link. That provides the full URL.

Thanks for the tip. And that is probably how David C copied that direct link. The picture is much clearer now.

Regards,
Adrien

> 
> David
> 
>> On Aug 20, 2018, at 7:52 PM, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I too am confused now.  First, I think David <sunfish62 at yahoo.com
>> <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>> stated in the other documentation thread that the
>> document names need to be clarified, and that may be part of why I am
>> confused.  I think that the short names seem to be Guide and Tutorial,
>> which, if they were used consistently, would work for me.  I may be wrong
>> about the names.
>> 
>> Second, I think that there may be an alias issue, and I am not sure where I
>> am sometimes because of that. In my last foray into online documentation I
>> was specifically trying to get to the current stable (Release 3) version of
>> the documentation, and when I repeat my itinerary as I tried to describe in
>> previous posts, I do end up in pages identified as ../v3/..  So I am
>> puzzled that Adrien does not seem to get to the same place, or how some of
>> my previous attempts to document the trip do not seem to be leading to
>> pages identified as ../v3/..
>> 
>> Third, I think that document title and chapter numbers do not appear on
>> every page in each form of the documentation, and that has not helped me to
>> keep track of where I am.
>> 
>> Fourth, the label on the link in the tip just below figure 4.3 of the help
>> manual is named Tutorial and Concepts Guide and it does seem to point to
>> the Tutorial ../v3/..section 4.2, so it seems correct for the current
>> document structure.
>> 
>> I am not trying to rant, just document my confusion and agreement that
>> simplification would be helpful.
>> 
>> David C
>> 
>> On Mon, Aug 20, 2018 at 4:30 PM, Adrien Monteleone <
>> adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> Hmm.. Not sure how I missed that recently. (I’ve read it before)
>>> 
>>> But then if it’s there, I wonder why so many questions still? Perhaps the
>>> organization or presentation isn’t very discoverable? User laziness?
>>> 
>>> Also, I still don’t think after several years that I’m clear on the
>>> difference between the Help Manual and the Tutorial & Concepts Guide. I get
>>> what their names imply and I understand the explanation on the website, but
>>> here is a case of info that I would expect to find in the other document.
>>> This is info about the GUI itself, not ‘how to use’ GnuCash to accomplish
>>> an accounting task. (which the name “Tutorial & Concepts Guide” implies and
>>> even the website itself defines as the document’s function)
>>> 
>>> Should this be relocated to the Help Manual?
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> Adrien
>>> 
>>>> On Aug 20, 2018, at 3:44 PM, D <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> And you will find said documentation in the Guide at 2.3.3.
>>>> 
>>>> David
>>>> 
>>>> On August 20, 2018, at 2:32 PM, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Mon, August 20, 2018 2:20 pm, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
>>>>> Of course, that all makes sense.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The other improvements, specifically how to resize columns, particularly
>>>>> the Description column I think should be documented. There are enough
>>>>> questions on the list about it to address the topic.
>>>> 
>>>> Absolutely!
>>>> 
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Adrien
>>>> 
>>>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>>> 
>>>> -derek
>>>> --
>>>>      Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
>>>>      derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
>>>>      Computer and Internet Security Consultant
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> gnucash-devel mailing list
>>> gnucash-devel at gnucash.org
>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
>>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> gnucash-devel mailing list
>> gnucash-devel at gnucash.org
>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel