Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re: [libreoffice-documentation] Re: Getting Started 3.4 full book published

Hi :)
A number of unavoidable problems have sorted themselves out or been sorted out by Jean and the 
team.  
1.  Initially 2 branches started at the same time.  Now each new branch starts near the end of the 
current one's cycle so the overlap is fairly brief.  
2.  Infrastructure has been sorted out and there is a back-up system.  
3.  There is a good plan now part of which is that;
     a)  only 2 of the guides for every release;  the Getting Started and the Writer Guides
     b)  The full set of books only for odd number branches
4.  Various branding issues and potential problems with the owners of OpenOffice.org have been 
resolved.  Logos and trademarks are sorted.  
5.  Work-arounds for the main "vanishing images" bug have been found.  Backups of images are being 
collected (jic) on a suitably ad-hoc basis.  

Regards from
Tom :)


--- On Sat, 31/3/12, Jean Weber <jeanweber@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Jean Weber <jeanweber@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re: [libreoffice-documentation] Re: Getting Started 3.4 full 
book published
To: marketing@global.libreoffice.org, Documentation@global.libreoffice.org
Date: Saturday, 31 March, 2012, 1:11

On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 08:50, Italo Vignoli <italo.vignoli@gmail.com> wrote:
> Jean Weber wrote:
>
> > The Writer Guide for 3.4.x should be done within a few days. We are
> > not attempting to do 3.4.x versions of the other books (can't keep
> > up). We may not get many done for 3.5.x before 3.6 is out (can't keep
> > up). In fact, we're not even trying to have a full set of guides for
> > each version (can't keep up). There is a pattern here! ;-)
>
>
> Hi, I'm not a documentation expert, and I don't think I'll ever become one,
> but on the other hand I understand that keeping up with a fast release cycle
> might be a nightmare.
>
> Is there anything that we can make at Board of Directors level in order to
> ease the process? Apart, of course, from slowing down the release cycle...
> which would be the most obvious answer.
>
> Please do mind that in two weeks we will have the Hamburg Hackfest, and I
> will bring with me a number of "to do" items to discuss with hackers.
>
> Of course, this doesn't mean that we will come out with an answer for
> everything, but I think it is worth trying.


One reason that updating the v3.3 books has been taking so long is
that we've been trying to find and fix errors and omissions that arose
from doing them so quickly at the beginning. The Getting Started and
Writer Guides are now much improved, and the Impress Guide is quickly
getting there, so I hope that keeping them up to date for new releases
can now be done more quickly.

We've been talking about two possibilities, each of them involving
*not* attempting to update everything for each release.
1) Only update chapters where significant changes are required (UI
looks very different; major new features; corrections to errors). In
most cases, most chapters need only trivial, or no, changes to keep
them current, although the writing in some of them can still be
improved.
2) Combined with 1), only attempt to release a new version of each
book once a year.

But the main problem is that, although we have many people who say
they are willing to do proofreading (copy-editing), that's not much
help unless there are enough people who (a) know how to review the
content for accuracy; (b) can use existing info (such as the list of
new features) to know what to look for and incorporate changes when
needed; and (c) have the time to do the updating and writing, to get
things to the point where copy-editing (proofreading) is useful.

I don't think the Board can do anything about that. And recruiting
more Docs Team members has mixed results: see paragraph above.

--Jean

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