New version of Getting Started with LibreOffice

I've uploaded a new version of the Getting Started with LibreOffice Guide. Let me know if you have any comments. This one uses the Liberation fonts. I've updated the styles to LibO and made a few other changes. Some of the ideas came from the Fedora 14 User Guide. It's here: http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/14/pdf/User_Guide/Fedora-14-User_Guide-en-US.pdf if you want to take a look. I think they did a great job on their guides. They list their typographic conventions on page 7 & 8. What do you think about using this format?

Ron

Have you updated the files on the OOoAuthors website as well? Or are you
planning to? Some people may go there first if they want to review a
chapter.

Is the new version on this page?
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation

It's confusing when the filenames are not changed. The wiki isn't the
best for this purpose. (Yes, I know it's only temporary.)

As a minimum, putting the latest update date in parentheses after the
chapter name would help, but changing the filename is IMO best, at least
in the draft stages. When published, the filename would presumably not
include a date (or the word "draft").

--Jean

I just updated the file on OOoAuthors. And yes, I'll continue to update them on both sites.

Yes it's on http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation. You're right, that is confusing. Will add the date to the download link. And continue to add it to the filename.

Ron

In a very quick look, here are some things I noticed:

1) There is no page footer and no page numbers.
2) Paragraph styles are used inconsistently.
3) IMO, the LibO logo on the cover should be smaller.
4) IMO, explanations of typographic conventions are unnecessary in
guides aimed at ordinary users. It's usually obvious what something is,
and if it's not obvious, then either the something should be written
differently or it doesn't matter. Pages like this are IMO just
space-wasting noise in most books... and especially in individual
chapters.
5) Different colours for the notes/tips/cautions is a nice touch, but I
don't like the gray behind the text on the right: it's harder to read
onscreen than black-on-white and prints out a bit muddy.

--Jean

Earlier, I wrote,

In a very quick look, here are some things I noticed:

1) There is no page footer and no page numbers.

This is because all the pages are in the same page style (Default)
instead of using different styles for the pages that need a footer and
the pages that don't.

--Jean

What template file are we using for the documentation rebranding?
Should we submit the template to the newly created design team / mailing
list for suggestions?

Thanks,
Michael Wheatland

http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Produce
The template is under Wish List.

System requirements for Mac are incorrect. You show them as "Mac OS X 10.4.x, X11 required; Mac OS X 10.5+ without X11"

OOo 3.xx does not require X11 and runs on Mac OS X version 10.4.x and newer.
Mac OS X 10.3.xx and older only runs OOo 2.xxunder X11. There is not a LibreOfice equivilant.

The following is wrong on Mac OS X:

    *Starting LibreOffice*
    Note for Mac users You should see the LibreOffice icon in the Applications folder. When you
    double-click on this icon, a text document opens in Writer. To open one of the other
    LibreOffice components (Draw, Calc, Impress, Base), go to the File menu of the Writer
    window and select the component you want.

On Macs it opens in the start centre, not in Writer. Older versions of OOo did that but it was changed quite a while ago.

Thanks for the correction. I've updated the file.

I've changed the page styles to the correct ones (mostly), updated the paragraph styles so they are consistent and made the logo smaller. I didn't mean for it to sound like I wanted to add a conventions section to the chapters, just wondering about the formatting they used in the overall doc. The gray behind the tips text is gone too.

I've noticed that sometimes when I'm applying page styles, they don't always change (and sometimes I apply a style to one page and it seems to change the style on another). And after I change the style on one page, and I scroll to another page that has a different style and click in it, the highlighted style in the Styles window doesn't change to reflect the correct style for that page. Does anyone else experience this?

Ron

I will look at one or more of these files to see if I have the same
problem. Which of the chapter files have been updated with the latest
iteration of the template?

--Jean

Ron, there are copies of the LibO docs on both the LibO site and the
OOoAuthors site, and it's not clear whether the latest iteration of a
file is on the OOoAuthors site and if so, where it is located. (I am
assuming the files on the LibO site are the latest; is that correct?)

For example, there are a lot of Getting Started files on the Review List
at OOoAuthors, so a potential contributor (who is familiar with
OOoAuthors) would expect that those are the latest iterations awaiting
further review or editing. But when looking in the Feedback section for
LibO Getting Started on the OOoAuthors site, I find quite a few files
with more recent dates than those on the Review List. This suggests to
me that when files are updated, the previous version is not being
removed from the Review List and the newer version added to it. And it's
not clear to me whether the files in Feedback are the latest either.

I found similar issues with the Writer Guide files. Thus there is much
room for confusion and potential wasted effort.

If the LibO team is going to use the OOoAuthors website for tracking
docs, then I strongly suggest that it be used properly.

If the LibO team is not going to use the OOoAuthors website for this
purpose, then two things should be done:
(a) the existing files should be deleted from the OOoAuthors site, so
they don't mislead people.
(b) some other tracking method should be implemented (through the LibO
wiki), so potential contributors to LibO docs know what stage various
chapters have reached and whether those chapters are being worked on.

I have been talking to someone who is interested in helping out but
dismayed by the situation described above. And I was considering
updating some of the files with changes I made recently to the OOo docs
(correcting errors, clarifying info, adding missing info), but I did not
know which files I should use.

--Jean

Hi, :slight_smile:

I've noticed that sometimes when I'm applying page styles, they don't always
change (and sometimes I apply a style to one page and it seems to change the
style on another). And after I change the style on one page, and I scroll to
another page that has a different style and click in it, the highlighted
style in the Styles window doesn't change to reflect the correct style for
that page. Does anyone else experience this?

I seem to remember I've had that experience before... If possible, it
would be nice if we can try and keep track of that when we use Writer
in the future: it's an annoyance and might be down to a little bug...

BTW, Ron, I regretted a lot that you weren't able to take full part in
the last confcall. It would have been good to have had a chance to
talk with you. I plan to propose another in the near future, maybe
we'd have the chance then?

Anyway, I'm currently writing up some kind of minutes for the last
one, and will probably finish that later today.

On behalf of the community, thanks for the regular work you and Jean
have been doing on those chapters. If it wasn't for your efforts, that
current documentation offering would not be there... Has there been
anyone else involved in that, too, that I'm not aware of?

BTW, Jean, I put your Friends of ODF offer to the SC, and the initial
reaction was that it's a great idea. We just need to wait for them to
meet with a full quorum and then there can be an *official*
decision... I'll follow up this coming Monday unless you have other
ideas?

Jean, I'm currently thinking out a possible workflow system for using
the wiki, but I'd say we should continue the collaboration with
oooauthors... I'll have proposals to put to you all this weekend,
probably involving me offering to handle the "checking-in" of
documents once a work assignment has been done on one of them. That
way we could be sure that there's proper synchronization. Also I'll
respond to your mail from the other day about your current server.

David Nelson

All the latest files are in the feedback folder in OOoAuthors. I didn't know about the review list feature. So they all should be removed except the ones in feedback. I have been updating both sites with the latest files, so both are up to date.

Ron, thanks for that info. However, not all the chapters are in
Feedback. Does that mean you are working on them and other people should
avoid working on them until you put them into Feedback? If you're not
actively working on them, are the ones in Drafts the latest, if no copy
is in Feedback?

To use the tracking system effectively, the latest files (that you have
amended) should be put on the Review List so others know they are
available for further review/editing. I have just done this for the ones
that are in Feedback.

This wiki page describes the process we use at OOoAuthors. The most
relevant bits are "How to retract a document" and "How to submit a
document", which describe what they are for and when and how to use
them.
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/Dashboard/Introducing_OOoAuthors#Using_the_OOoAuthors_website

--Jean

That's right. For the ones not in feedback, I'm not working on them (the latest ones are in drafts). I will read up on it. Thanks.

Ron

Hi, :slight_smile:

In any case, would it be possible to get an update on the status of
all those docs on the LibO wiki in their current form today?

David Nelson

Hi David. Here is the information on the chapters that I've worked on. Percents are the percent completed.
Some screenshots will need to be updated once RC1 comes out to show the new app/file icons.

Getting Started Guide

Chapter Formatting (%) Screenshots (%) Technical review (%)
1 100 95 50
2 80 95 90
3 80 95 50
4 80 90 45
5 50 75 25
6 50 0 0
14 95 95 25
App. A 95 100 50

Writer Guide

Chapter Formatting (%) Screenshots (%) Technical review (%)
1 5 10 10
2 5 20 20

Ron

Hi Ron, :slight_smile:

That's terrific work you've been doing. Thank you *a lot* for that.
I'll get back to you guys about a suggested workflow (at least
*provisional*) over the next 2-3 days.

Is this something you and Jean have been doing largely alone, or do we
have any other forgotten heroes as well?

David Nelson