Stephen Fanning schreef op 13.03.2020 18:14:
I would like to hear the opinions of members of the Documentation Team
on a
potential improvement to the Calc Guide.
As you probably know, Calc provides a library of over 500 functions.
The
6.2 Calc Guide includes an Appendix B entitled Description of Functions
which occupies over 70 pages (not an enjoyable read!).
It is indeed a large document and not easy to read. But if you want to
find a specific function you can use the search funtion to find
information about that function.
Calc's Function Wizard provides the user with facilities that help
insert a
function call into a cell, providing text explanations that indicate
the
purpose of the function and giving high level details about the
function's
parameters. In addition, the Help pages provide further relevant
details of
each function, including examples.
True, but you have to know the name of the funtion to use it, or scroll
down the functions to find what you need.
Behind the scenes we are also developing a wiki area to provide yet
more
detail on the Calc functions, aimed at covering any technical details
that
are beyond the scope of the Help pages (see
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Calc_Functions).
Having been responsible for the major update to Appendix B in the 6.2
Calc
Guide, I am unsure of the role of the information in that appendix. At
the
moment it is not entirely consistent with the text in the Function
Wizard,
nor is entirely consistent with the text in the Help pages. There is
therefore scope for conflict and / or confusion between these various
sources.
That certainly needs improvement.
I would like to propose that the appendix in the Calc Guide be updated
so
that it provides exactly the same information as is on the Function
Wizard
- no more information, no less information and no "improved" text. This
would have two main advantages:
(1) The English text on the Function Wizard is readily available as
preset
strings in the code, embedded in various .hrc files. This means that
the
new appendix would be easily created (I've done it and placed a draft
copy
in Nextcloud; see file CG6418-CalcFunctions-SF-13Mar2020.odt in the
English/Calc Guide/Related materials/ folder) and, importantly, can be
easily checked by a reviewer who has no specialist knowledge.
(2) Browsing functions in the Function Wizard requires many mouse
clicks -
having a set of straightforward tables containing the same information
in
the Calc Guide may be useful to some users, helping them to discover
functions that they were not previously aware of.
I would be interested in your thoughts.
I looked at your document and see that it contains less pages. It wend
from 90 to 70 pages. Still a large document but the informations is more
clear I think. And it is indeed good to make it consstent to the Wizzard
and the Help pages.
Regards, Kees
Regards,
Steve Fanning
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