Jacques,
The most interesting thing for me is Si's
how-to-spur-greater-adoption---let's brainstorm thread.
So you have all been here before! It's going to take me some time to
read and get up to speed on all that.
But like you said, time is flying....
To me, Application Overview for Users says it all.
Like all the documentation, I had great hopes that this might finally be
something I could get my teeth into and really understand.
After scrolling through 9 pages of Contents, my heart sank at the first
sentence of the actual text:
For greater detail of the Sales Order process, see Section <B>3. Sales
Order: Entry, Fulfillment and Returns</B>,
below. <P> For an explanation of all the fields, see the individual
Manager Reference documents for
<B>Accounting</B>, <B>Catalog</B>, <B>Facility</B>, <B>Order</B>,
<B>Party</B>, and others.
The first sentence is so important. So what on earth is the point of all
that?
Scanning down quickly I'm dismayed to discover that we haven't got more
than half a page in before the hierarchy has already reached 6 levels
deep with item number .2.1.1.3.1.1
Intellectually rigorous no doubt. But... Well I'm sure you know what I mean!
I guess the thing that really puzzles me is that everybody on this list
seems to write so well. So how come most documents I come across leave
me scratching my head in confusion before I've got the the end of the
first page?
It's still a mystery to me. I guess I just have to accept that there are
some puzzles that I will never be able to crack.
Ian
Jacques Le Roux wrote:
Ian,
"Short" answer (time is flying...). This is only my opinion and not community !
Jacques,
All that looks good as it stands. It's another one of those essential
engineering resources that I really wouldn't want to be messing around
with it at all.
Imo what is needed in terms of user rather than developer documentation,
is a completely fresh start form a completely different POV.
It isn't the absence of documentation that's the problem. It's the
presence of it. There's just way too much good stuff on offer. Too many
options. Too many possible ways to go.
For the developer this is heaven. For the noob it's confusing...
frustrating... a real turn off.
I agree on this point : functionnal documentation is missing or rather is
scattered. In this kind of doc it's better to explain how
things work. We should
enhance this part and I guess *users* may help on this side... Did you notice
that :
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Areas+Being+Worked+On ?
Tautology is of no help as in some parts of
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Undersun+Doc+Site+PDF+Exports. Sorry
David, I
know that much was done by Les Austin who is certainly a very efficient
technical writer but was maybe lost in OFBiz (not
surprising ;o) ? So it ended with a lot of tautologies just explaining obvious
things but not how things are related or how to do.
For instance examples are great in this aspect...
On the other hand it's the most advanced functionnal documentation, just need
to be enhanced ?
IMHO the better attempt at it for the moment is the great
http://docs.ofbiz.org/x/EAM (note that I used the short link because
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/Apache+OFBiz+Business+Setup+Guide may
be changed but not the short link that you find in
info tab).
I did also some very limited (how to use/create product catalogs in french ;o) :
http://www.les7arts.com/assist/OFBiz/Creation%20Catalogue%20de%20produits.pdf
BTW there was already a discussion about some ot this point in
http://www.nabble.com/Users---how-to-spur-greater-adoption---let%27s-brainstorm%21-tf1566682.html#a4254938
You see Ian you are not alone. Will you be ready to make an abstract from ?
Take off your racing drivers hat for a moment and put yourself in the
position of someone who just wants something they can drive to work.
Now look at the Wiki. Is there a Start button, or does it look more like
the diagram of a wiring harness that you will never get your head
around? You and I may be interested in using Eclipse, but I can't think
of one client I have ever met who would want to go there. They're all to
busy building their businesses - which is after all what OFBiz is
supposed to be about.
Yes true, missing :
. A front page (abstract for users and developpers : 2 sections, wih emphasis
on users part)
. Some news (mmm... maybe redundant with news on main OFBiz site : to avoid,
redundancy is our worst ennemy in this effort)
. A clear pages-tree
Take another look at Ubuntu.com. Imo that's the way to go. Nice big
buttons! Absolutely nothing there that I don't need to know. And most
people will only read a fraction of that on the first run through anyway
:-/ For the few who want to customise their own hot-rod, all the
essential wiring is there if you look for it. It's just buried out of
the way behind the dashboard instead of scattered all over the floor.
Yes I agree, this has already been discussed for the Main OFBiz site...
Ressouces (human) are needed ...
Jacques
Putting something together like that would require a zero tolerance
policy to any scrap of information that was not absolutely essential to
the business of showing the average driver how to get the thing into
gear and out onto the road.
I doubt if there would be anything new to write. It's basically all there.
But it would mean hacking quite crudely into stuff that the community
has taken years to create.
Without the community's approval, that's a show that could never get on
the road.
Ian
Jacques Le Roux wrote:
Leon, all,
There is already an open Wiki. Just have to create your login :
http://docs.ofbiz.org/pages/listpages-dirview.action?key=OFBIZ.
I
can't see a better tool for that : closed for some parts, open for others...
It's up to you folks...
For instance http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/Online+Developers+Section
might be a good entry point for
http://www.opensourcestrategies.com/ofbiz/tutorials.php.
BTW, I think that we may advertise for this and put a front page to explain how it
works (for instance that the "The Open For
Business Project Wiki" is wide open)
Jacques
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leon Torres" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 9:23 PM
Subject: Re: OFBiz/opentaps as a small business accounting package?
I also believe it would be worthwhile to experiment with an open ofbiz wiki. As
the ofbiz community continues to grow, we will certainly attain the critical
mass necessary to make such a thing work.
For instance, we've authored a bunch of cookbooks in .txt format about specific
tricks and how-to's in OFBIZ:
http://www.opensourcestrategies.com/ofbiz/tutorials.php
Unfortunately contributing to those is hard because it takes an investment in
time to read, verify, and update the documents on our end. If they were in the
form of an open wiki, it would be far easier to expand on them.
- Leon
Florin Jurcovici wrote:
IMO, an open wiki is the right thing to do. Even if I had some
experience which I'd like to share, if the wiki is closed or restricted,
I cannot. Some maintainers should review docs occasionally and correct
or delete them if they are not OK, maybe draw an outline of the
documentation at the beginning then let whoever is willing to fill the
pages. But IMO a closed/restricted wiki is not the way to go.
--Florin Jurcovici
------------------
Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
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