feedback on 2.2.9 documentation for Mac

[Jacob Wegelin]

The following observations are not complaints. I am really happy to be learning about gnucash and I really like the intro guide.

But someone on the gnucash list suggested that you benefit from a new set of eyes looking at your documentation (and using the software).

With this only in mind, here are a few observations. These are written from the point of view of a somewhat software-phobic (or "computer-dumb") end-user.  This email is not a cry for help; I submit it only because it could possibly be useful for people designing new help documents. Take it as feedback from a tester.

The current documentation (http://code.gnucash.org/docs/guide/basics-interface1.html) is written for a Windows interface, so that a Mac user gets a little confused. For instance it refers to Edit -> Preferences, which does not work in Mac.

And in 2.3.7. Menu Shortcuts it says, "Pressing the Alt key with the underlined character in the menu heading will bring up the menu items for that heading." This is Windows lore, I believe.

Earlier on the same page, someone has written a beautiful description of what I believe is the Windows interface: "At the top of this window is the title bar, which displays the file name (once you have saved the file.) Below that is the menu bar."

A computer-dumb newbie like me gets momentarily confused looking for the menu bar; then I remember that on a Mac the menu bar is replaced by a bunch of menus at the very top of the Mac screen, rather than in the window of whatever application is open.

The readme for the Mac says, "Context Help doesn't work. Gnucash Help and the Gnucash Guide are included in the application bundle, in Contents/Resources/English.lproj."

I did not realize that "context help" means simply Help. I mean, if you click on Help in GnuCash 2.2.9 on a Mac, it doesn't work.

Also it took me a while to figure out that "the application bundle" means the dmg after I have opened it up as a volume. I had no idea what an application bundle was.

And perhaps the most puzzling is the fact that, although Mac Finder displays something as an application file (GnuCash.app), that "file" is actually a directory, and one can look inside it. Only after bumbling along in that way (and receiving an email from someone on your list which told me to look again at the readme) did I find a way to open up GnuCash.app as a directory and find Contents/Resources/English.lproj/GnuCash Guide, which contains a bunch of html files which are Help documents.

Again, I really like your beginner's guide and am only making these comments to serve as "a new pair of eyes."

Jake Wegelin