Jean & Rick --
I guess my feeling is, for the time being, get a simple document down
that we can start from. At least people in need can turn somewhere. As
we go along, an advanced user may need help, and hopefully they will
join our team and write the section.
Perhaps the way to go for some things is two chapters, or maybe a second
book, "Advanced OOo topics." I'm not sure, but, as I said, my opinion is
to get a full Calc guide out the door and then build on it. We can't
make the charts chapter better until the basic elements are in there
correctly.
Have a nice day,
Peter
Jean Hollis Weber wrote:
Rick Barnes wrote:
My take on many of our chapters is they are too simple, and leave much
for the user to research on their own. I have found way too many
mistakes and 'incomplete' (or oversimplified) topics in the online
help...about which I always files issues. I think a little more depth is
always a good idea...unless we are writing 'quick start' guides.
I agree that many chapters (in our other guides as well, not just the
Calc Guide) are too simple. To provide real value, our guides do need to
go beyond the basics. They also need to give guidance on when and why
someone might do something, or what the consequences of various choices
are, not just how to do things. In many cases, that info is there; in
others, it's not. And I'm as bad as anyone (and worse than many) about
not putting enough of that sort of thing in when I'm doing the writing.
But as we all know, it's not easy in a book to provide enough info for
those who need to go beyond the basics, without that info getting in the
way of those who do need only the basics. It's easier in online help,
because you can hyperlink between a basic, simplified topic and a more
detailed one.
Two possibilities that come immediately to mind for our books are:
1) On some topics, have two chapters: an introductory (or tutorial or
quickstart) one and an advanced one. For example, "Intro to Styles" and
"Working with Styles" in the Writer Guide.
2) In some chapters, have an introductory (or tutorial or quick start)
section and an advanced section. For example, we've tried to do that in
the chapter on Tocs, Indexes, and Bibliographies in the Writer Guide,
knowing that most people will just create a ToC using OOo's defaults,
but if they want to do something a bit different then they need as much
info as we can give them.
Of course, some chapters may need only the "advanced" discussion, due to
the topics covered.
Gary and others may have other suggestions.
--Jean
