LO 3.5 release announced

The release of LO 3.5 has just been announced. We are falling further
behind, team!

I've had only a brief look at v3.5, but I could see a few conspicuous
changes that will need to be written up in the user guides.

When I have a chance, I'll create a page listing the changes that I
find will need to be made to the guides, similar to the page I did for
LO 3.4. Or someone else is welcome to do it. Release notes (useful for
our purposes) are here:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/3.5

And an interesting infographic of the highlights is here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/116590/lo35-infofinal.pdf

--Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
I think that for most of the guides we should skip the 3.4.x branch completely and just work on 3.5.x.  Exceptions (imo) should be GS, Writer, Base and possibly Calc.

I think the GS guide is important for each branch as it covers the most 'obvious' stuff that people need to know.  Similarly for Writer.  Writer is the main app that most people use most of the time so it's important to get that guide out for each branch too.  With Base i don't think it would even matter if different chapters were for different branches!  The important thing is just to get a first version out there and then worry about consistency afterwards.  I'm not sure about Calc.  It's probably the 2nd most used app but still quite a long way behind Writer.  The Users List almost never hears from people using Impress.  So either the Impress Guide is stunningly good and significantly better than the other guides or it's the one that people do read before jumping in or Impress is very intuitive for people or not many people are using it, or some combination of those.

So, i think complete GS and Writer for 3.4.x branch, keep going with Base and skip the rest?  What do other people think?  Are any of the other guides (or even 'just' odd chapters) near completion?

Also don't forget that while 3.3.x and 3.4.x started at almost the same time and ran alongside each other the 3.5.x and future branches wont run in the same way.  There will be some overlap with one branch ending just after another has started but not such a huge overlap as the first 2 branches.
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Thanks, Tom. I was thinking much the same thing, which I summarise here:

* Finish GS 3.4 and Writer 3.4, both of which are well advanced, and
once I get a chance to go through John's work and upload some I've
been doing, will be nearly done; then start on v3.5 for both of them.

* Skip Calc 3.4, Draw 3.4 and Math 3.4 and go directly to v 3.5,
because AFAIK little has been done on those books for v3.4.

* Finish Impress 3.4 OR skip and go to v 3.5, whatever Peter prefers
(since he's doing the work). I haven't checked yet to see if there are
major differences in Impress from 3.4 to 3.5.

* Continue with Base Guide for whatever version Dan prefers (since
he's doing the work).

--Jean

I will be using 3.5 I think. I will have to check out what changes
might have been made in the code that might affect Base. I really have
not seen any changes listed.

--Dan

Hi :slight_smile:
I think 1 set of guides each year is enough but according to the "Release Plan" there is scheduled to be 2 branches per year!  So, i think it might be good for the team to make a decision to set a policy to skip either all the odd ones or all the evens.

There are other things the documentation team would be better doing.  That is, better than the people currently doing them (or not doing them)!  Plus there is a wish-list of things doc-team members have said they would like to see. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Perhaps a better criterion is to update a guide (or a chapter) if/when
some major changes to the UI occur, particularly new features -- or
any change that might make the existing guide confusing by describing
something that is very different. Sometimes a few additional notes or
sections would suffice (perhaps labelled "New in x.x").

I certainly agree there is much else we could be doing, and finding
the time -- or the extra people -- to do them is something to aim for.

--Jean

Hello Jean and Tom

I can easily start upgrading 3.4 Impress to 3.5 Impress.

Chapters 1 to 5 Impress 3.4 would have to be upgraded as they are published or very close to being published.

I have Chapter 6 Impress 3.4 already downloaded on my iMac ready to start an upgrade to version 3.4 or 3.5.

I will download LO3.5 onto my very old Toshiba (my test laptop) to check the differences with LO3.4.

Start upgrading to 3.5 - YES or NO? Not a problem for me.

Regards

Peter

Hi :slight_smile:
If it is easy then go for it.

At the same time tho, if you have chapters that are almost ready to be published such as ones that only need final proof-reading then how about uploading them to the wiki as they are?  As we did for Base chapter 2?
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications#LibreOffice_Base_Guide
marked as draft in the same way (ie copy&paste and just adjust the link a little)

I hate the idea of wasting work and love it when we improve the wikis contents, even if it's not completely perfect.  "Release early and release often".  We have to be a lot more careful about what gets to the official page
http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/
but the wiki benefits from being a little more rough&ready.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Peter,

Unless there are major differences from 3.4 to 3.5 that would affect
Chs1-5, I suggest you start updating to 3.5 from Ch 6. When Chs 6-11 &
App A are done, then go back to Chs1-5 and update them from 3.4 to
3.5.

Meanwhile I will put Chs 1-5 on the wiki in the v3.4 column (unless
you do it first). They probably don't need the "Draft" designation
that Tom mentioned in a later note, with the possible exception of
Ch5. I'll do a quick check of Ch5 which I don't think I've looked at
previously.

What do you think of that idea?

--Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
+1
from me.  That sounds about perfect imo.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Hello Jean & Tom

I shall start at Chap 6 and onward to version 3.5 then come back to Chap 1 to 5.

I have had a quick check and there seems to little change for Impress, but the devil is in the detail.

Please publish Chap 2 to 5 to the wikki when you have checked them. Chap 1 is already on the wikki.

Regards

Peter

Hi :slight_smile:
I think Jean is already happy with 2-5 so feel free to upload them.

The Ch1 is not showing on the wiki-page yet so i think it still needs to have the link added to the page.  I might have time to do that later.  Also down the right-hand-side panel bit the "Recent Changes" shows the last few changes across all the different parts of the wiki and i couldn't see the upload logged in there.  I must admit i found the uploading process quite difficult to work out, i think the submit button or whatever was hidden just off the bottom of my screen (1024by768).  Once you have done it 1 time it is very easy.

I might have time to have a look and maybe help with uploading or editing the wiki-page later but please don't count on me!
Apols and regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Tom, a slight correction: I have not yet looked at Ch5. --Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
I added the links to the wiki
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications#LibreOffice_Impress_Guide

I think Jean said that would make it easier to upload the chapters to the wiki?  So far i have done it the other way around but i think Jean's way is better for work-flow.  So, at the moment the link looks red and when you click on it then you get taken to the uploads page (if you are logged into the wiki).
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Chapters 1-5 of Impress Guide have now been published to the wiki and
on the ODFAuthors website. (See also another note I'm writing with a
more relevant subject line.)

--Jean

I understand that the documentation collaboration site has moved. I
had an account on the old Alfresco site, I presume I need a new one.

Robert

I have created an account for you at ODFAuthors.org, where we are now
working on LO docs in English. You should receive an email with a link
to set your password.

This wiki page has information about using the website. (It also has
info about using Alfresco; for now, ignore that section.) The tables
of task statuses for v3.4 user guides are not fully up to date, and we
have not yet begun to compile a list of topics that need to be updated
in each chapter for v3.5.
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Development#First_steps_with_the_Documentation_team

Welcome!

--Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
Welcome back :)  Sorry i was unhelpful off-list.  It was 2am here! lol.  Anyway, good to see you got it sorted.  Thanks Jean :slight_smile:
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: