Split transactions are killing me

[David T.]

Will--

I understand your frustration, but perhaps you don't understand that GnuCash is an open source software project built, documented and maintained by volunteers. Since you are so critical of the Help and Tutorial documentation, you might consider making some tangible suggestions on how that documentation can be improved, so that everyone can benefit. 

I'll refer you to http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/Trouble-With-quot-Enter-quot-vs-quot-Tab-quot-Again-td4036073.html--a lengthy thread about precisely the difference between Tab and Enter (begun by me). That discussion led directly to the addition of a note in 8.7 of the Tutorial to assist in that particular situation.

By the way, the section of the Help document is not "unrelated"; it's the chapter on managing transactions. 

I have filed Bug 692917 in direct response to your desire to have a clear note outlining the (admittedly different) behaviors of Tab and Enter. Take a look and see whether it would have helped you.

As for your complaint that the Tutorial is too high level: I'd welcome any tangible suggestions on editorial changes. It was my perception that these instructions were clear.

David




________________________________
 From: Will <Will.stewart1a at gmail.com>
To: gnucash-user at gnucash.org 
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 5:03 PM
Subject: Re: Split transactions are killing me
 
> I do understand the principles of DE accounting, but I have a hard time
remembering if
> debit is on the left or the right.  But I know where the money is
> going to goes on the left, and where the money is coming from goes on
> the right. 

I know you are trying to be helpful, but the bubble that was starting to
form is deflating again.

> There are places in the Help Guide and the Tutorial where the
 distinction
> is hinted at, but I don't know 
> whether it is explicitly brought up anywhere. 

The utter lack of clarity on top of the lack of user friendliness means that
vague hints in unrelated sections does not begin to address the need to
shepherd the user to an understanding of the use of the software in a
low-stress manner. 

> I think it would be best to put something into chapter 6 of the Help
> document.

An example in Chapter 6 /before/ the refund example could be helpful if it
had the details Liz mentioned and was referenced from the the Split
Transaction section in 4.2.2

>You might have a look at the Tutorial and concepts guide, 
> chapter 4
> (http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.4/C/gnucash-guide/chapter_txns.html). It
> goes into some > detail about entering
 transactions in the GnuCash
> environment, and provides some detailed 
> walk-throughs on simple and complex transactions. 

This tutorial is /precisely/ what I've been referring to above. The split
walkthrough is at a high level, insufficient for the average user. Again,
the example is non-pertinent and the critical details are missing.



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