My2 pences in-line Cheers,
Michele > Suggested changes to chapter template and instructions: > 1) Make it a real (.ott) template and use it properly. Agree 2) Ensure no x-refs to the field info held in Doc Properties, because > this info is lost when docs become part of a master doc. Should we > remove this info, eg on User-defined tab, to minimize confusion? I found the info useful, but if it causes problems then it can go 3) Update copyright info for CC license, but retain the full link text > for the two licenses so it is visible when printed. Agree 4) Remove line for maintainer's name or make it optional. The original > intention was to give credit to the person doing the work, but many > chapters no longer have an ongoing maintainer. IMO best to just leave > the line to direct comments to the list. Agree with the next email on the subject in the thread. 5) Remove "New in 2.0" graphic and the note-like table used for it. No > longer needed. Agree 6) Ensure no use of Times or Courier: these cause problems for me when > creating the printed books from Lulu. For example, the copyright > symbol in the current "template" is in Times; needs to be Times New > Roman. Text created by the drawing tools defaults to Times (at least > on my system); this needs to be changed to Arial or Times New Roman. > We shouldn't be using the drawing tools anyway (because of other > problems), but if we do -- we need to agree on what font to use for > the text. My preference for the captions, text boxes etc created with the drawing tool, is to use a font which is similar (or ideally the same) as the one used in the UI. Since the expectation is that the image with the additional bits and pieces is later transformed in a png, it does not really matter if the font is proprietary. On the default font for graphic objects. I have to try this, but maybe, if you create a new default template in draw where the default graphic style uses the font you want, it may use it also in Writer... 7) Ensure no hyphen after chapter title on title page, even when a > subtitle in included. The chapter title goes into the page footer, but > the subtitle doesn't, so the occasional hyphen there looks silly as > makes the footers inconsistent. Agreed, although not applicable to the template 8) Make the Frame frame style identical to the one we have defined for > OOoFrame, or delete OOoFrame; main requirement: remove the 0.20 cm > spacing on left, right, top, bottom for Frame. Also, make the Graphics > frame style the same as OOoGraphics. When new graphics are added, > their style defaults to Graphics and no one changes the style to > OOoGraphics. When a caption is added to a graphic, both are contained > in a frame of style Frame; again, no one changes this to OOoFrame. We > might as well simplify things by eliminating the custom styles; but if > not, make the defaults identical. > 9) Similarly, make the Figure paragraph style identical to > OOoFigureCaption. The default style for a caption added to a graphic > is Figure; people are better at changing these to OOoFigureCaption, > but many forget. Change the spacing below paragraph for both these > styles to 0.1cm. There is not much difference today between OOoXXXX and the XXXX style, however I do not like to create a dependency on the default styles which we cannot control. I would prefer to highlight the need to use only OOo prefixed styles in the guide. It is fairly easy to check if some other styles have been used by filtering the Styles and formatting selecting from the drop down menu "Applied styles". 10) Include instructions on how to create and insert graphics, > including (a) don't use drawing tools to annotate screenshots or > create diagrams, and (b) what font to use for text in graphics. Strongly agree. I had to ask Jean a million questions when I started writing :-) 11) Should we simplify the table design? I think it looks good, but > applying the changes to alternate rows between a white background and > a 10% grey background are a nuisance. Are they worth the trouble? I > can't decide. I like the table as it is now. It is a bit of a pain sometimes, particularly if you decide to insert a new row in the middle. Maybe we could include a macro that formats the table alternating the colour. It is very easy, so easy that even I can write it. Related changes to style guide: > 1) Highlighting of text to indicate user input, dialog/page titles, > buttons and icons, etc: I propose we minimize the use of > bold/italic/color/font-changes, to make it easier for writers and > editors to remember what's done which way. We had a discussion earlier > on the list about this, with (I think) no real conclusion, other than > minimizing or eliminating the use of quotation marks. So: how best to > indicate user input? Agree that we should agree on a common formatting style to indicate the user input. Blue works for me, as long as it is a separate style set to no language so that the spell checking does not kick in. 2) Style for reference to other chapters in a book should be: Chapter x > (Title). Agree 3) Style for reference to other books should be: book title in > italics. Note: For the Getting Started guide, "guide" is not part of > the book's name so it should not be capitalized or italicized. Agree 4) Terminology: as much as possible, we should use the same terms as > the OOo project (and the online help) uses. Two examples: dialog, not > dialog box; and checkbox (one word). There are others. The Docs > Project and Online Help group are AFAIK working on a glossary of terms > and spellings, in an attempt to rationalize usage. A glossary would be great. pop-up menu, drop-down list, text box/edit box etc...
