Thoughts on the Base Guide

Hi Team,

During the past few days, I have spent some time looking at the 6.4 Base Guide as we begin to review and update it. Unfortunately, if we are to improve the quality of the book then the task may involve significantly more effort and time than we at first anticipated.

This conclusion has been drawn based on my work to date and is a result of the following main factors:

  * Previous emails have noted that the document would benefit from a
    refresh of the figures. What I hadn’t considered was that the “user
    data” within many of the figures is based on German examples, which
    isn’t ideal for an English language document. I have also found that
    the structure of the example “Media_without_Macros” database doesn’t
    quite match the figures in Chapter 3 (Tables). Hence there is
    additional effort needed to re-work some of the underlying sample
    databases to review their structure and include English data.
  * When reviewing the early sections of Chapter 3 (Tables), I was
    surprised by the level of change necessary to get the detail correct
    for 7.2. We can only assume that this is also the case in other
    chapters (maybe Felipe and Dev could comment on whether Chapters 1
    and 2 follow this trend).
  * I was a little shocked when I found out how many bugs are explicitly
    referenced in the text, with links to Bugzilla, and this feels like
    it could be a marketing disaster. Just to give an idea of the scope
    of this problem, I found specific references to the following bugs
    within the text 46180, 51452, 51453, 51959, 53027, 61871, 73707,
    80320, 82411, 82591, 87290. Also, statements like “Firebird engine
    is very good, it is its implementation in base which is full of
    bugs” and “The Report Builder is somewhat treacherous in use, as
    certain functions are available in theory but don’t work in
    practice” may be true but don’t create a great impression.
  * Discussion in the mailing list has indicated that we should update
    the technical content of the document in a few areas (e.g.,
    comparison of HSQLDB and Firebird; "Auto Grow" feature in reports;
    changes to Writer and maybe Calc may affect discussions of the
    interaction between Base and other LO components).
  * Previous authors and editors believed that the document should be
    re-structured (see for example
    https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Development/User_Guide_Tasks#Base_Guide).

I don’t think that all the above can be addressed quickly. Therefore, to make rapid progress (and complete the set of 7.2 guides), should we issue the 7.2 Base Guide simply as a cosmetic update to the 6.4 version? The ODT files have already been updated to the LO7 style and the 7.2 book covers are available. With no substantial change then there should be little reviewing required. However, I have already prepared an updated Preface and it might be worth including that.

Meanwhile we can continue reviewing/improving the material in preparation for a future update.

All views would be very welcome.

Regards,

Steve

Steve,
I would be fine with issuing a cosmetic "update" to complete the set
of v7.2 user guides. IIRC, I have done that before with at least one
other book, though possibly back in OO days.

I have checked the section "Creating mail merge documents" in Chapter
7, which I said I would update. I see only one figure that is out of
date (top of page 11, the first figure in that section), but the
change in it is minor and does not affect the instructions. It could
be left as it is.

I do not have a problem with bugs being mentioned or listed; in fact,
as a user I would likely find them helpful if I ran into a problem
with the software, and I would appreciate the honesty. However, I do
agree that the wording of some statements about bugs could be made a
lot more diplomatic.

I agree that the book would be improved for English audiences by
replacing the German examples in the sample databases, and of course
all the other improvements and restructuring that others have
suggested. But all that is work for a later edition.

Regards, Jean

Greetings -

I second your opinion, Steve. Please find my thoughts on the discussion points.

Apart, one of the TDF marketing literature states that they are creating LibreOffice professional certification programs. If the certification team uses the product user guide(s) as the basis (preferred approach) for developing certification program materials, it will promote a sense of shared destiny. It means the documentation team should work towards reviving the guides combining module application usage plus skill development.

I know it will be laborious, but I am sure it is worth every effort.

Thank you
-Dev

Hi Steve,

my take on this point:

* Previous emails have noted that the document would benefit from a
   refresh of the figures. What I hadn’t considered was that the “user
   data” within many of the figures is based on German examples, which
   isn’t ideal for an English language document. I have also found that
   the structure of the example “Media_without_Macros” database doesn’t
   quite match the figures in Chapter 3 (Tables). Hence there is
   additional effort needed to re-work some of the underlying sample
   databases to review their structure and include English data.

I'd say that having English examples and database structure/contents would be the best solution overall: English is the de facto lingua franca of IT. Thus, any documentation/example in English is supposed to be internationally understood (or at least readable) while other languages (GE or FR, or...) would only be understood by their local audience.
Also, translating into any language starting from EN would be much easier for local translators, if needed.

Thanks to the Documentation team for all the very good work!

Best regards,

Hello Steve,

Just uploaded a first review of the BG7002 and checked out the BG7204.

Since I do not have any experience in the LO Base, I have just made some superficial suggestions.

About your considerations:

i. There were some reference to bugs and a lot of pictures without caption.

ii. As far as I could tell, the features are pretty much the same for this chapter, didn't notice some significant change (I'm referring only to the GUI, can't say much for the code presented).

Are we planning to deliver the Base Guide still in 2021? Asking this because, if not I think we could use some second reviews on these documents.

Best regards,

Felipe Viggiano

Hello All,

Thanks for the feedback received about how to progress the Base Guide.

Based on my current understanding of its status, I would like to make the following two suggestions:

(1) That we issue a 7.2 Base Guide within the next few days. I’m happy to collate the book based on the existing 6.4 chapters (but within a 7.2 style template), apart from the Preface. My suggestion is to update the Preface so that:

a)    It does not have a statement explaining that the Firebird implementation within Base is “full of bugs” on its first page, and
   b)    It has a greater level of consistency with the prefaces to other LibreOffice guides, and
   c)    It includes a statement that there are no significant changes from 6.4.

In my opinion, the fact that there is no significant software change since 6.4 justifies this approach and, if there is no dissent, then I can create this book rapidly.

(2) That we look to implement a relatively significant update to the Base Guide to coincide with a later build of software. This may involve restructuring and other changes, as have been identified in emails on this list during the past few days. I would be happy to start work on this and coordinate the production of such an update.

The reviewing work that has been done so far (primarily by Felipe and Dev) will be extremely useful for improving the material in this book. Many thanks to them for that work. It might be worth pausing the review of the Base Guide chapters while we gather our thoughts on what should be done to the document. Ideas can be exchanged through this email list, or via the Documentation Team meetings.

Please let me know if anybody is unhappy with this outline approach or would like to suggest something different.

Regards,

Steve

+1

Jean

Hi Steve

I also agree with your remarks.

Regards
Olivier
PS:
- Book covers are already done
- some SQL listings and macros have tab characters for code indentation in the book. It is advisable to replace them with spaces.

Hi Olivier,

Thanks for that, and for producing the book covers.

I will check all chapters for unnecessary tab characters and remove them before publication of the 7.2 Base Guide.

Regards,

Steve

Greetings Steve -
Thank you for considering and prioritizing the list of options. Because of my bizarre work and personal commitments, there is a delay in replying. I am sorry for that.

I will keep you posted about the progress from 17 December. I am sure as a team we could make it at the earliest.

Happy holidays!

Thank you
-Dev