[Bf-docboard] Do we need a Blender Manual?

[Raindrops From Sky]

Hi Jim,

In a very old thread, someone (Ton?) had talked about splitting the wiki
into Reference Manual (which only explains the controls- and nothing more),
and User Manual (which explains the theory and shows how to use Blender);
and a third "Tutorials" and/or "Video tutorials" section.

All of them were supposed to be interlinked, as they are complimentary to
each another.

That was a wonderful idea.

I wonder if that concept is still valid?
If so, then the TOC (and also content) should be split accordingly.
Then your gap analysis will show that there are many more pages to be
written.

****
Regardless of how many docs are created, there is the question about how to
fill up the blank pages quickly.

Any page is left blank because-
(a) no one has authentic information about the topic (help needed from
developers)
(b) It is a simple topic, but people just didn't have time to write it

How to know which is which?

Would it help if someone took the lead and dropped a few hints on each
blank page?

Not all volunteers have the same knowledge/expertise level.
Therefore an expert-level volunteer should drop expandable hints on all
pages.
Then the not-so-expert authors can expand those seminal hints.

Secondly, for topics that are unknown, drop specific questions for
developers to answer.
Once the developers furnish that data, people can expand that article.
(Without specific questions, how would they understand where their help is
needed?)

I have written ten full-fledged manuals so far, and this approach has
worked for me.

Just my two cents...

Regards,
Narayan
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-docboard/attachments/20121213/150d64cf/attachment.htm