<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1422122463505_23728">A reference manual is a great idea: every other manual I read or worked with is exactly that: a place to quickly find information how to use a particular tool. No fluff, and focused. Once users know the terminology and basic usage principles, this should enable them to look for tutorials.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1422122463505_25556"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1422122463505_25555"> A reference manual, however, requires an solid and robust structure, and should offer a good search function. This is currently not the case with Blender's manual, or at least only partly true, unfortunately.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1422122463505_24031"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1422122463505_23727" dir="ltr">A basic search for "selection", or "selection methods" results in a useless search result. Trying to find "selection" as a category in the current manual structure yields nothing! I would expect that to be part of "Basics" under "Getting Started".</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1422122463505_24322" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1422122463505_24321" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1422122463505_23483"><span></span></div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div style="display: block;" class="yahoo_quoted"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font size="2" face="Arial"> On Saturday, January 24, 2015 5:20 AM, Greg Zaal <gregzzmail@gmail.com> wrote:<br> </font> </div> <blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv0672301715"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div>I'd agree - a reference manual seems like a much more easily reached target. I myself would prefer to have a good reference available than a guided manual.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div>It would definitely make maintenance simpler, and would be easier to write since it requires less teaching and language skills than a guided manual.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div>If people still wish to write tutorials and in-depth examples, these can be done elsewhere (personal wiki pages, forums, blogs, etc) and linked to from the manual. This is already done occasionally, for example the array modifier (<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://blender.org/manual/modifiers/generate/array.html#tutorials">http://blender.org/manual/modifiers/generate/array.html#tutorials</a>) links to some external resources.<br clear="none"></div><div class="yiv0672301715yqt2658945449" id="yiv0672301715yqt72358"><div class="yiv0672301715gmail_extra"><br clear="none"><div class="yiv0672301715gmail_quote">On 24 January 2015 at 08:56, Campbell Barton <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:ideasman42@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:ideasman42@gmail.com">ideasman42@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote class="yiv0672301715gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">It was suggested by @el_diablo that we might consider restricting the<br clear="none">
manual to being a reference manual.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
see:<br clear="none">
<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?360263-Blender-User-Manual-Official-Call-for-Help!&p=2803818&viewfull=1#post2803818">http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?360263-Blender-User-Manual-Official-Call-for-Help!&p=2803818&viewfull=1#post2803818</a><br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
This doesn't mean we have to make this simply lists of button<br clear="none">
descriptions, we should still make this text for users and give some<br clear="none">
guidance (usage info and tips).<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Examples of pages I'd consider reasonable for a 'reference manual'<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
- <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://www.blender.org/manual/modeling/meshes/editing/subdividing/knife_subdivide.html">https://www.blender.org/manual/modeling/meshes/editing/subdividing/knife_subdivide.html</a><br clear="none">
- <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://www.blender.org/manual/modifiers/generate/solidify.html">https://www.blender.org/manual/modifiers/generate/solidify.html</a><br clear="none">
- <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://www.blender.org/manual/getting_started/basics/interface/buttons_and_controls.html">https://www.blender.org/manual/getting_started/basics/interface/buttons_and_controls.html</a><br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
This means we wouldn't attempt anything like tutorials or howto's.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
The main reasons I suggest this is...<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
- So far we only have a small group of active writers.<br clear="none">
- This is what the manual is for the mostpart anyway.<br clear="none">
- The few tutorials from the wiki were OK (at best),<br clear="none">
... Youtube, blender.stackexchange & dedicated tutorial sites are far<br clear="none">
better suited to helping users with spesific interests.<br clear="none">
- This is something developers can keep up tp date when functionality<br clear="none">
is changed, without giving us pages of text to maintain.<br clear="none">
<span class="yiv0672301715HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br clear="none">
--<br clear="none">
- Campbell<br clear="none">
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</font></span></blockquote></div><br clear="none"></div></div></div></div><br><div class="yqt2658945449" id="yqt56600">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">Bf-docboard mailing list<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:Bf-docboard@blender.org" href="mailto:Bf-docboard@blender.org">Bf-docboard@blender.org</a><br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-docboard" target="_blank">http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-docboard</a><br clear="none"></div><br><br></div> </blockquote> </div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>