[GNC-dev] Long Term Documentation Directions

[David T.]

OK. In reply to my own message, I have paged through the Help and compared it to the Guide. I compiled a mapping framework from Help to the Guide, and found that this might not be as huge an undertaking as I initially thought.

Here are my thoughts:

1. Introduction to GnuCash						:	Delete. The single paragraph enclosed therein is covered elsewhere.
2. Using This Document & Getting Help		 		: 	Delete. This information is in the Guide.
3. Getting Started								: 	Merge into Guide 2.3 The Basics. Interface
4. GnuCash Windows & Menus Options Overview		: 	Merge into Guide 2.3 The Basics. Interface as appropriate. Retain Menus and Context Help.
5. Setting Up, Editing & Working with Accounts		: 	Merge into Guide 3 Accounts as appropriate, except 5.4.1.1 (Online Price Retrieval) into Guide 9.6 Investing
6. Common Transaction Operations				:	Merge into Guide 4 Transactions. I’ll note that the Help is more detailed than the Guide in this area
7. Business Features							:	Largely duplicate copy of chapter 13. Business Features.
8. Tools & Assistants							: 	Merge into various chapters based on subject—e.g., investment-oriented assistants get put into Guide 9 Investments.
9. Reports And Charts							:	Delete. Guide 10 Reports covers in more detail
10. Customizing GnuCash						: 	Add as needed to new Customization chapter following Guide chapter 4.
A. GnuCash Tips and tidbits						:	Delete/Move to wiki (currently consists of Finance::Quote data which is, as we all know, a fast-moving target)
B. GNU Free Documentation License

As for the Guide, there are a number of bugs outstanding that point to a future direction for the structure there, most specifically Bug 687820, so I won’t address those here, except to point out that the various appendices included there should be moved to the wiki and maintained there.

Cheers,
David

> On Sep 10, 2018, at 11:26 AM, David T. via gnucash-devel <gnucash-devel at gnucash.org> wrote:
> 
> Dear All,
> 
> I reply to this message (even though it lacks the previous discussions for context), as it is the latest in the thread. I will, however, try to take on some of the issues that have gotten raised. I apologize for the length and density of the reply.
> 
> *** My Documentation Manifesto ***
> 1. The Concept Guide should be the primary informational document. 
> 2. The Help should provide specific information on the functions that a given on screen element serves—i.e., Contextual Help.
> 3. The wiki should give technical information and information that is only applicable to specific user situations.
>