I'll volunteer to help...

[Jon Lapham]

Bill Wohler wrote:
> Jon Lapham <lapham at extracta.com.br> writes:
> 
> 
>>Michael J. Rensing wrote:
>>
>>>I'd be happy to volunteer to compile and maintain the FAQ if that would
>>>be wanted and it doesn't step on anyone else's toes. Otherwise, perhaps
>>>some of the core people could suggest where I could be of some help.
>>
>>The FAQ is here:
>>http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/appendixb.html
>>
>>Just send your updates to the list for discussion.
> 
> 
> Michael should still be able to help you maintain that part of it to
> give you more time for the rest of the tutorial. The FAQ could also be a
> standalone document, and probably should since it will get rather large.

Well, I don't think we really have maintainers, in the usual sense, for 
parts of the documentation.  If Michael wants to add/edit FAQs, he (or 
anyone else) would be appreciated and welcomed.

However, I am a believer in Keep It Simple, and I see no reason why the 
FAQ should be a separate document.  We can make links to it directly 
from the web page, no reason why we couldn't do that.  If it needs to be 
split up (because it becomes too large), the current docbook 
implimentation can handle that, you can add sections, and subsection, 
and subsubsections, no need to change anything.

Oh, and one day all these documents will sit on gnucash.org.  I am only 
hosting the HTML version of them on jandr.org temporarily until they get 
a home on gnucash.org.  The XML version of the docs are naturally all on 
gnucash.org, in the gnucash-docs CVS package.

> In particular, the FAQ is missing the answers to the questions about
> year-end file management, strategies for importing data from Quicken the
> first time. These should be in the manual, of course, but the FAQ should
> reference the sections. Another FAQ is handling finances with roommates

The approach I've taken with the FAQ is simply that it is a place to put 
answers to things that are not addressed elsewhere in the user guide. 
So, year-end file management should be, and Quicken import is, dealt 
with in the guide.

Now, that is just how I decided to do the FAQ, certainly not necessarily 
the best way.  :)  I figured that until we had a complete guide, this 
was the best approach.  But, I see what you mean, put the *actual* most 
frequently asked questions there...

> Also, the answer to "Is there a batch mode (non-interactive) available
> for GnuCash, for building reports, etc?" is not entirely true. How about
> gnucash --add-price-quotes file.xac?

I'm not familiar with this.  What does it do?  Looking at the wording, 
"add-price-quote", I'm guessing adds prices to stock quotes, probably 
using the Finance::Quote mechanism?  If so, then this should get 
documented in the investment chapter, section "setting stock price".

http://www.jandr.org/temp/gnucashdocs/invest_stockprice1.html

I would still argue that that perticular FAQ is still valid, because 
normally people are talking about building reports non-interactively. 
Maybe the wording should be changed to be more clear?

PS: This is great!  A discussion about documentation... woohoo.

-Jon

-- 
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  Jon Lapham  <lapham at extracta.com.br>          Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
  Work: Extracta Moléculas Naturais SA     http://www.extracta.com.br/
  Web: http://www.jandr.org/
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