>One problem I'm wrestling with -- not just in this chapter -- is just >how much to put into a "Getting Started" book which is already a lot >longer than I would like it to be. The whole book needs rethinking in >terms of audience: maybe two books would be better, one aimed at >beginners with little background in office suites, and one aimed at >newcomers to OOo who have experience -- and expectations and needs -- >from other suites.
That was a problem when reviewing it. There are many places where much more could be said, maybe even should be said, but a getting started book doesn't usually go into a lot of detail. But it's a problem when there's only enough info to get somebody into trouble or make a feature look hard to use, or when a task is introduced but the book doesn't really say how to do it. Getting started books are hard because you have to carefully define the scope and then stick with it, and even then there's always more that should be said. It could easily be argued that customization isn't a getting started task at all. The thing is, it's not really covered anywhere in the OOo doc. I gave the chapter in the User Guide a look, but it's very short and doesn't cover much, and contains some confusing statements and errors. (I'll give it an official review when I get the chance.) >Perhaps some of it (eg customisations) would go >better into a separate, shorter book, Customization is one of those topics than can be as big as you want it to be. I think a separate book, or at least a long chapter (maybe 30 pages or so), would easily be possible. It could be bigger or smaller, depending on how you want to define "customization," one of those words like "configuration" that can mean whatever you want it to mean. >perhaps along with stuff like >how to move your templates and autotext and other customisations from >one computer to another, some system admin stuff related to networked >computers (eg dealing with shared files vs user-specific files), We chatted a bit about the need for the networking info a year or more ago. I know Novell customers ask for it (they've asked me personally), and so I'm sure it's a concern for more people. But when you asked for feedback, it seemed to get little response, which begs the question about how high a priority it should be. I could easily imagine a document like "Rolling Out OpenOffice.org in the Enterprise" being very helpful and valuable for encouraging adoption, especially since it's something I don't think the competition has. Customization would be part of it, since a company could even theoretically set OOo up to look like their brand, with their colors, logo, etc., plus their standard templates, dictionaries, and whatever. The problem, of course, is that somebody would have to do it. It's tempting to volunteer, but considering how hard it's been for me to do what I wish I could do (or even finish the chapter on Writer/Web that I volunteered to do), I think I'd be over committing. Maybe the answer is to produce a couple sets of how-tos, one on customization and one on rolling OOo out in a business. These could then later be compiled into books, if it looks like interest is high enough to warrant the effort. Maybe some of us could manage small chunks like those (with looser time requirements) when committing to a book, or even some chapters in a book, would be a bit much. >and then hope people show up to do the work, especially writing the missing >stuff. Considering how well I've done with the Writer/Web chapter, I definitely understand that concern. Volunteer work like this always gets pushed down the priority list when things are busy at work and in life. -s.
