[Bf-docboard] Suggestions to improve wiki useability

[Fade]

Hi Docboard,

Apologies for the delay. I've been out of state on holidays for the last 
few days and have only just checked my mail.

Cal: I'm going to be working on the Sketching/Drawing page for the next 
few hours so what I'll do is merge your work and mine into what I've 
done so far at the below link. I'll let you know when I'm done and then 
we can see if anything else needs to be added and we can add in Jim's 
comments from your work.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Fade/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Sketching/Drawing

Apologies too as I forgot to put a note on the Drawing page that I was 
going to propose merging the Sketching/Drawing pages together (I have 
done the page to reflect this).

I'm happy to help with a formatting/layout review. To kick it off, once 
I've finished the Sketching/Drawing page today, I'll duplicate it a few 
times and use it as a test for some layout/formatting tests as there's 
enough elements in there to have a bit of a play with. I'll post back in 
a day or so with the links and some thoughts.

Regards
Fade

On 11/01/13 12:05, Cal McGaugh wrote:
> Hi Keston,
>  As I began to look closely at the current pages that Jim assigned me 
> to edit (Sketching) ,  I realized why I hadn't been using the
> wiki more in the past.....I find the current formatting very 
> distracting, and difficult to extract & understand
> the relevant info of the page.
> So I took the liberty to remove most of the template code to see how 
> it would look.
> e.g. "Description",  "Options", "Usage" etc,  the in-line button 
> images, numbering each heading (1.2.1.2 etc),
> and the large darker boxes (at least in the Naiad skin version).
> They are un-necessary, and in fact, counter-productive to useability, 
> imho.
> I showed this to Jim Tucker and he seemed to think it was an improvement.
> Here is the current version of this page using templates
> http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Sketching/Drawing 
>
> And this is the one that I edited by removing most of the templates.
> http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Megacal
> I kept the relevant headings with their font size & bolding, also 
> bulleted points. The rest was redundant and distracting......at least 
> for me, and
> I think for many others as well.
> Not only would it make the pages easier to use, it makes it easier to 
> create & edit if we aren't constrained to use
> the templates. This does not mean that pages would become 
> inconsistant.....the style should always be consistant.
> "The main purpose of wiki maintenance is to ensure that the content of 
> each page provides the user with a clear,
> concise and up-to-date description of the Blender function in the 
> current version. Over and above this, the page
> should conform with the User Manual context (see below) so that we 
> keep a uniform User Manual layout." ....should always be the standard.
> I'd also like to propose doing a user poll at Blenderartists.org (if 
> you think it would be productive and help to improve useability)  to 
> ask if:
>
>   * Do you use the wiki?
>   * How often % vs videos and/or books?
>   * Do you have any suggestions for improving it so you would use it
>     more?
>   * What do you think of this page vs this page?  (the current version
>     vs my proposed version).
>
> BTW,  I didn't realize until after I had started the editing that Fade 
> had already started working on the Sketching pages.......I tried to 
> contact him/her to see if they wanted to finish
> alone, with my help, or would want me to finish the pages....no reply 
> , so am not publishing the pages yet, though did submit it to Jim for 
> review.
> There's a good primer on website useability, Don't Make Me Think 
> <http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357869508&sr=8-1&keywords=book+don%27t+make+me+think>, 
> and I believe the same idea makes sense for the wiki, too.
> I was going to post this at the doc-board, but wanted to get your Ok 
> first. It may have even already been proposed years ago.....I'm still 
> wet behind the ears here & in Blender.
> If you do think it's worth pursuing, I'd even be willing to limit my 
> editing to cleaning up all the current pages.......it would be a good 
> project to keep me off the streets. =)
> Whatever you think is best, I'll abide with it.
> Thanks,
> Cal
>
>
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