Hello everybody,
Jean, sorry for the late reply, but we are terribly busy with the
translations for OOo 2.3 and the deadline is 05/07
Jean Hollis Weber schreef:
Gary Schnabl wrote:
ghrt wrote:
Gary Schnabl wrote:
ghrt wrote:
I think it will be a good idea to have different folders for
different OOo versions. A guide with some chapters on 2.2 and
others on 2.3.0-dev, with diffs between the software versions, it
will be at least unusable.
Version 2.3, being readily available and being actively pushed for
volunteers to test it, means that it is nearly ready for stable
distribution. Drafting documents for 2.3 should be the norm instead
of writing/editing the documents for a version that will soon be
technically obsolete.
If that would be possible, that would be really great, to have the guide
ready at the moment the new update is released. But I fully understand
that this is only possible with a vast amount of people working on this.
The timeline I found indicates that 2.3 is due for release in September.
Yes, i agree, but i said another thing: to have different folders
for different software versions, ie 2.2, 2.3 and so on. As a
translator, i'm always "a little late" and I might get half a book
with 2.2 and the other half with 2.3. Of course, i took all the
chapters from the beginning with the same version, but mixing them
at oooauthors makes impossible to get latest version on 2.2 since
only 2.3 is on site. That's the idea. Now I think we have diff
folders only for major changes, like 1.x and 2.x.
Having separate folders for different releases, would make our life a
lot easier: Soonest we have a first guide translated/available, we can
easily compare the documents and than it is easy to see what need to be
updated compared with our previous version. It could be that we have to
jump from OOo 2.2 to OOo 2.4. As we have only limited volunteers
contributing, that will enable us to keep track of the enormous work you
are all undertaking and keep our translation up to date. Not that we are
already there, but the Getting Started Guide and Calc Guide are already
behind us and could use some updating, but we presently concentrate on
the other modules.
I agree with ghrt that we need to differentiate things we are
writing/editing for soon-to-be-released versions of OOo from things
written for current (or recently past) versions of OOo.
I agree with Gary that writing/editing for the next version of OOo is
a good idea. However, when we find mistakes (including typos) in
current documents, we should correct them and make those docs as
correct as possible.
A major problem at OOo and OOoAuthors is that the current
documentation is usually quite a bit behind the then-current
implementation. What is passed off as being 2.2 or whatnot is not
really as current as it seems. Any changes in the GUI or new
functions are not always covered, and some elements apparently have
never been covered in the docs or in the online help--especially the
online help.
That is obviously due to a shortage of writers, mostly... Also,
occasionally some of the procedural steps leave holes because they
tend to be incomplete or don't cover all the GUI components or
functions.
All of that is unfortunately quite true. We need lots more people
constantly checking the current docs against the new versions of the
software, to spot new/changed items. Even if those people don't write
about the new/changed stuff, having it flagged would be a great help
to me and the others who do the writing.
Also having various pigeon holes for parking docs for the various
incremental or major versions would necessarily be rather incomplete
and would accomplish little worthwhile, to my way of thinking.
I disagree. Separate the new/revised docs from the currently published
ones until the new version of OOo is released, and then replace the
current docs with the new ones -- and keep the current docs somewhere.
(BTW, I use the "old files" folder for each book for storing drafts
during development, and then periodically delete those copies -- when
I find time to do it. Sounds like a more organised variation on that
technique might be useful.)
I've been concerned for some time that my habit of overwriting
existing docs with new ones is causing problems (or at least
inconvenience) for the translators. Although I've discussed this a bit
with some of the translators, we haven't done anything to improve the
situation for them.
With several people making minor and major corrections to the existing
chapters, "change tracking" can become a real mess if all changes
after initial publication are kept, so comparing old and new chapters
seems to me to be a more workable way of indicating differences. Thus
keeping folders for existing docs vs new/revised docs seems to me to
be a step in the right direction.
I imagine we will be concentrating on the major updates, whenever the
software is updated to a new version, especially when we do not have
finished our initial set of guides. So for us, it will be fine if we can
find the major releases is separate folders.
I would like to hear from more translators (and anyone else) on this
topic.
--Jean
Many thanks
Keep up the good work,
--
Leo Moons
nl.OpenOffice.org
OooAuthors/nl
Nous sommes condamnés à être libres
