Daniel,
Yup, you're right. I started looking at online OFBiz resources sometime Dec 07, very briefly;
spent most time in quickly comparing many opensource EPR apps (and on other projects). And then in
Jan 07, I seriously dug through online OFBiz resources. Couldn't find much, broken/missing
linkages between related docs, generally very disjointed experience. So much so that I had to dig
into the codes to find "documentation".
I'm not saying how it should've been done (lots of work to organize docs in a navigation-friendly
way to 1st-time visitors). I'm just stating a fact that you've correctly observed (for me and for
many other newbies).
I think all these problems will be resolved gradually over time. First thing we might wanna do is
to really attract and keep newbies (haven't heard from Mike Wong :(, wonder if his bosses voted
against OFBiz).
Jonathon
Daniel Kunkel wrote:
Hi
First, I apologize for any implication that it was my original idea. I
was just excited about what I think is a great idea.
Second... That's great to see that the idea has moved forward, and that
some difficult decisions have already been made and do not need to be
rehashed.
Taking a step back and looking at the process, I realize that for
someone like Jonathan, it was unlikely to find out that this feature had
already been started. Is there a place where we keep a list of these
types of efforts? I was not able to find mention of it in jira, but
that may still be the best place for this for now.
Thanks
Daniel
On Mon, 2007-01-29 at 03:30 -0700, David E. Jones wrote:
There is some great news about this! As Andrew mentioned this has
been discussed before, even years ago.
Even better, the resting place for this documentation has already
been decided! It will go with the rest of the end-user oriented
documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site. It will go in the
OFBENDUSER space:
http://docs.ofbiz.org/pages/listpages-dirview.action?key=OFBENDUSER
And more specifically this sort of material, reference material for
specific screens, will go under the "Manager References" document here:
http://docs.ofbiz.org/x/RAI
You'll see some early efforts here from Ray Barlow that are based on
the Undersun doc site exports, which all need to be moved to the wiki
format, and which are all available in PDF dump form here:
http://docs.ofbiz.org/x/5gI
So, as you can see this effort is already well underway. As different
areas are cleaned up refined and reorganized we can start linking to
them in the applications.
There is a LOT more work right now needed for this to get an initial
pass done, and then there will be more help needed over time. So for
anyone that has time and interest to invest in this, please do!
-David
On Jan 29, 2007, at 1:57 AM, Andrew Sykes wrote:
Daniel,
This has been discussed before, I think it was Hans Bakker who last
proposed it. There was a fair bit of discussion at the time...
- Andrew
On Mon, 2007-01-29 at 09:47 +0800, Jonathon -- Improov wrote:
Daniel,
Great idea. We're working on that right now.
Only problem with creating such in-application help texts is we
first have to fully document OFBiz
before we even know what to put in such in-app help texts. We're
also working on that right now.
In case our full user manual is clear enough, then we might skip
the work needed to build in-app
help texts.
Finally, it seems that the instructions could be embedded into
seed or demo
data, and become part of the final user's website. This seems
like it might
work even better, but is probably the hardest to develope and
configure.
I vote for this method. It's the most OOTB approach. But I don't
suggest putting the help texts in
database. It's easy enough ("duh" kind of easy) to create help
texts inside individual webapp/
folders.
Also, consider the case where we customize OFBiz for individual
clients. Each customized OFBiz
will probably have different functionalities (tweaked/modified
from original), and they'll all
require their own Help texts.
Creating a centralized Help site (say http://ofbiz.apache.org/
help) will too tightly couple
individual OFBiz instances (including customized instances) to the
one-size-fits-all Help site.
Jonathon
Daniel Kunkel wrote:
Hi
I've got what I think is an awesome idea for improving the end user
experience easily with page links to user documentation.
The idea is pretty simple I think... Essentially most every page
of the
OFBiz web application would get an "Instruction for this Page" link.
This link would then take the user to page describing the page
and how
to use it.
The implementation is a little more difficult, since I'm
uncertain where
is the best place to locate the instruction.
My first thought is to create a centralized OFBiz wiki. This way the
content would be developed and improved easily by the user
community as
a whole, for the benefit of everyone.
However, this doesn't conform to the style, formating, or system
modifications that may make the documents inappropriate for some
installation.
The next thought then, is to create an OFBiz sub web-site. The
formatting could be controlled by the maincss helping with the
formatting, and can be changed. However, it's much more difficult to
develop and deliver than with a wiki.
Finally, it seems that the instructions could be embedded into
seed or
demo data, and become part of the final user's website. This
seems like
it might work even better, but is probably the hardest to
develope and
configure.
Thanks
--
Kind Regards
Andrew Sykes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sykes Development Ltd
http://www.sykesdevelopment.com
