On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 15:50, Pedro de Medeiros <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 15:07, Shaun McCance <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> On Fri, 2008-10-31 at 13:11 +0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote: >>> Leonardo Fontenelle wrote on 29/10/08 00:50: >>> > >>> > http://library.gnome.org/devel/gdp-style-guide/stable/infodesign-2.html.en >>> > >>> > What's the difference between "introduction" and "getting started"? >>> >... >>> >>> "Getting started" probably is helpful, "Introduction" probably isn't. ;-) >> >> If we're talking about documentation in general, I'd say >> it depends on what you're writing. "Introduction" should >> be used to introduce concepts and terminology. This is, >> I suspect, most useful in developer documentation. But >> it could be useful as a subsection title for more complex >> applications. For instance, a section on charting for a >> spreadsheet manual might be served well by an introduction. >> >> Now, if we're talking about the first section of a typical >> application help manual, then we definitely want "Getting >> Started". And not just the title. A "Getting Started" >> section should be a real hands-on tutorial to how to use >> the application. >> >> If you have a "Getting Started" section that reads like >> the following, you've done something wrong. >> >> Beanstalk is an application for collecting and counting >> magic beans. Beanstalk is free software under the GPL. >> Beanstalk uses [boring list of libraries users really >> do not care about]. Beanstalk can be used to [list of >> things you can do, without telling you how to do any of >> them]. In the future, [OK, stop. Documentation is not >> the right place for your roadmap. Ever. Seriously.] > > > Well, it seems that "introduction" should never be > replaced by "getting started", but I think the opposite > doesn't look so bad (i.e., replacing "getting started" > by "introduction").
I take it back. I opened some manuals in yelp and I see now that they are very different. Besides, a manual may contain both sections (Totem for instance). Pedro _______________________________________________ gnome-doc-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-doc-list
