<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><tt>#################<br>
3 Questions</tt><tt>...<br>
</tt><tt>#################<br>
</tt><tt><br>
come into my mind every time</tt><tt> when i work on the manual
pages:</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>- Who is the intended audience?</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>- What is the anticipated content?</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>
</tt><tt>- How is the manual meant to be used?</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>Here is what i believe (please correct me if i am wrong):</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>- intended audience: Everybody who USES Blender</tt><tt>
as a tool.</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>- anticipated content: Everything that is need to USE
Blender</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>- document usage: can't tell in general (but see below)</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt><br>
############################<br>
How our Addon Users do it<br>
############################<br>
</tt><tt><br>
Now here is how the users of our own (third party-)
Blender-Addon<br>
typically behave:</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>1.) user does experiments (without reading the docs)</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>2.) user has an issue.</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>3.) user tries to solve that particular issue</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>4.) user continues at 1.</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>user can be an expert or a noob, the questions are
different, </tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>the approach to find a solution for a particular issue
seems similar:</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>- Google solution</tt><tt>.<br>
- Watch youtube videos.<br>
</tt><tt>- Ask in chat and or forums</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>- Use blender.stackexchange (recently became very
popular)</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>- Look at the blender manual (seems unpopular).</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt><br>
<br>
####################################<br>
</tt><tt> My personal goal and wishlist ...<br>
####################################<br>
<br>
I personally would like to see the documentation getting<br>
more useful (more reliable, more up to date) and thus <br>
also more popular. This would help us to reduce the <br>
tremendous amount of questions (in our community) <br>
about the (basic) usage of Blender. <br>
<br>
For the documentation my wishlist is:</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>- Can be searched by keywords</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>- Can be browsed</tt><tt> with few clicks</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>- Can be understood by artists</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>- Is complete but also br</tt><tt>ief</tt><tt> (no walls
of text)</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt>
- Is referenced from Blender itself (RMB -> Onlinemanual)</tt><tt>.<br>
</tt><tt><br>
</tt><tt>I personally do not care if this is called Manual or
Reference.</tt><tt><br>
However i am a big fan of easy to use and concise documentation.<br>
Hence i try to write with that in mind :)<br>
<br>
#############################<br>
The documentation Team ...<br>
#############################<br>
<br>
Honestly i believe that what is needed is people who<br>
do the documentation and not so much people who make <br>
decisions, assignments and deadlines.<br>
<br>
I personally would bail out immediately when someone <br>
told me to improve a particular document and deliver <br>
withing 2 weeks. <br>
<br>
-gaia-<br>
</tt><br>
On 25.01.2015 11:44, Pep Ribal wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAOOWns7GTd-5Wi4VNjMnNb6v7q5EbRAa64QYjC0y+rGCuZR6jA@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Context-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>I explained my view on the subject a few days
ago. To summarize:<br>
<br>
</div>
-There should be both a manual AND a reference.<br>
</div>
-Manual sections should be pretty much the same
there are now (modeling, rendering, rigging,
animation,...)<br>
</div>
-Reference sections should be broken, into editors.<br>
</div>
-Manual can then link to information in the reference.<br>
</div>
-The current "editors" section in the manual doesn't make
any sense, as this is exactly the Blender reference.<br>
<br>
</div>
I emphasize the need to set up a team asap, and start
meetings and decisions, assignments and deadlines.
Otherwise, I feel the blender documentation discussion as a
chronic incurable disease.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>I'm not just pointing out what you should do. I'm also
offering my help in whatever you need.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
Regards.<br>
<br>
</div>
Pep.<br>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div><br>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">2015-01-25 4:03 GMT+08:00 Wim
Teuling <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:wfteuling@yahoo.com"
target="_blank">wfteuling@yahoo.com</a>></span>:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote">
<div>
<div>
<div>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><br>
</div>
<div> 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><br>
</div>
<div 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>
<div class="h5">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
</div>
<div><span></span></div>
<div><br>
<br>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr"> On Saturday, January
24, 2015 5:20 AM, Greg Zaal <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:gregzzmail@gmail.com">gregzzmail@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote> <br>
<br>
<div>
<div>
<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>
<br>
</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>
<br>
</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
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
shape="rect">http://blender.org/manual/modifiers/generate/array.html#tutorials</a>)
links to some external
resources.<br>
</div>
<div>
<div><br>
<div>On 24 January 2015
at 08:56, Campbell
Barton <span
dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
shape="rect">ideasman42@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote>It was
suggested by
@el_diablo that we
might consider
restricting the<br>
manual to being a
reference manual.<br>
<br>
see:<br>
<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
shape="rect">http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?360263-Blender-User-Manual-Official-Call-for-Help!&p=2803818&viewfull=1#post2803818</a><br>
<br>
This doesn't mean we
have to make this
simply lists of
button<br>
descriptions, we
should still make
this text for users
and give some<br>
guidance (usage info
and tips).<br>
<br>
Examples of pages
I'd consider
reasonable for a
'reference manual'<br>
<br>
- <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
shape="rect">https://www.blender.org/manual/modeling/meshes/editing/subdividing/knife_subdivide.html</a><br>
- <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
shape="rect">https://www.blender.org/manual/modifiers/generate/solidify.html</a><br>
- <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
shape="rect">https://www.blender.org/manual/getting_started/basics/interface/buttons_and_controls.html</a><br>
<br>
This means we
wouldn't attempt
anything like
tutorials or
howto's.<br>
<br>
The main reasons I
suggest this is...<br>
<br>
- So far we only
have a small group
of active writers.<br>
- This is what the
manual is for the
mostpart anyway.<br>
- The few tutorials
from the wiki were
OK (at best),<br>
... Youtube,
blender.stackexchange
& dedicated
tutorial sites are
far<br>
better suited to
helping users with
spesific interests.<br>
- This is something
developers can keep
up tp date when
functionality<br>
is changed, without
giving us pages of
text to maintain.<br>
<span><br>
--<br>
- Campbell<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Bf-docboard
mailing list<br>
<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
shape="rect">Bf-docboard@blender.org</a><br>
<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow"
shape="rect">http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-docboard</a><br>
</span></blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div>_______________________________________________<br>
Bf-docboard mailing list<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
shape="rect">Bf-docboard@blender.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
shape="rect">http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-docboard</a><br>
</div>
<br>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Bf-docboard mailing list<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Bf-docboard@blender.org">Bf-docboard@blender.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-docboard">http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-docboard</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Bf-docboard mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Bf-docboard@blender.org">Bf-docboard@blender.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-docboard">http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-docboard</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>