Documentation Project 2009/10

The OOo Documentation Project needs some planning and guidance. There is a lot of work that can be done, but exactly what is unclear.

This is a first draft of ideas (initial input is based on an email conversation with Valden L.).

This only covers the User Documentation. Application Help is a separate component and not included in this brainstorm.

Identifying the gaps and problem areas

1. Identify the duplication of effort. Exactly how many different Doc projects exist? How many are active? How many are producing docs that are duplicates of existing docs? Are any working with or in parallel with the main OOo Doc Project?
   • http://ooodocs.sourceforge.net/index.php
   • http://oooauthors.org/
   • http://wiki.services.openoffice.org
   • http://en.flossmanuals.net/OpenOffice
   • Others
2. Licenses that each of the many docs are released under. (PDL, CC-BY and GPL)
   • Are they compatible? or do they conflict with each other?
   • Other?
3. What manuals are currently available?
   • User Guides for Writer, Impress, Draw; draft UG for Calc; also Getting Started.
   • BASIC Programmers Guide, Developers' Guide, Builders Guide, Administration Guide.
4. What manuals are missing? For example, is there an OOo Math Guide?
   • There is now, on the wiki. It is the same as the Writer Guide chapter on Math. Could be pulled out of the ODT/PDF version of the WG and made a separate, though small, guide.
   • Base Guide is in early stages of development, and has been for years.
5. What other documentation is available, and what is its status?
   • How-to's, tutorials, FAQs -- some are very old and may not give correct info for current versions of OOo. Really need triage on these.
6. What other documentation would be useful?
   • Tutorials or how-to's targeted at specific needs of specific audiences. See this page.
7. What communication channels are we using?
   • The dev@documentation mailing list?
   • The authors@user-faq.openoffice.org mailing list?
   • Comments inside an odt-file?
   • The OOoForum?
   • The Wiki discussion pages?
   • Other?
8. Doc process? Is there any definition of what to do, and how to do it? All on the Wiki? Offline in another process?
9. Where can new authors or community members get started?
   • This is one of the biggest gaps in my opinion... new Doc Project members don't know where to go, or what to start with.
   • There is a Wiki Category of documents that need attention, but it's not really clear what actually needs to be done or what the priorities are.
10. Languages? The OOoDocs are being translated into multiple languages. Are the needs of the translators being met? Link to the translation process?
11. Publication?
    • On the Wiki only? Is the Wiki meeting the needs of the users?
    • Provide "Wiki Books" ( eg Documentation/Wiki Books)
    • Other?
12. Identify the possible Doc Project roles, with descriptions:
    • Writing
    • Reviewing
    • Editing or proofreading existing documents
    • Research (what user questions are not covered, or hard to find)
    • Maintenance (keep pages up to date with changes in OOo, and clearly identify which ooo version is documented in How Tos and FAQs)
    • Screen captures and other artwork
    • Others? For example more technical roles, Wiki maintenance/admin, website maintenance etc. Important to identify where new members can contribute.. make it easy for them to find things they can do for the Doc Project (bite sized chunks).
13. Explain were different documentation is written/developed (simple and concise description... with links?)

Proposed Plan to fill the known gaps and focus on some of the problem areas

TBD