Mechtilde, > On Sep 12, 2018, at 11:21 AM, Mechtilde <o...@mechtilde.de> wrote: > > Hello David T. > > Am 12.09.18 um 16:38 schrieb David T. via gnucash-devel: >> Hello, >> >> As I begin the process of migrating text from the Help to the Guide (cf. Bug >> 796855), I am working on the Help information regarding the New Account >> Hierarchy Setup (NAHS) assistant, and I have a couple of questions about the >> second screen of the assistant, the “New Book Options” screen. >> >> First off, while I respect the intent to allow users the option to set these >> preferences from the creation of their file, I wonder whether this is >> misguided. To wit: all of these options are quite technical in nature, and >> all of them can be set at a later point by opening the appropriate >> preferences. Adding these options here adds complexity that can easily be >> deferred to a later point. While it is true that this assistant runs >> whenever a user chooses File->New (meaning that an experienced user might >> wish to add these settings from the assistant), I am willing to hazard a >> guess that most users will invoke this assistant *only* when they first >> start using GnuCash, and *only* when their heads are already swimming with >> the overwhelming experience that is GnuCash. Asking a new user to choose >> whether to use Trading Accounts or to Use Split Action Field for Number is >> IMHO pointless. They aren’t going to be able to make an informed decision. > > There are not only people starting with GnuCash for privat use with less > experience of accounting. There are also people who want to use GnuCAsh > for Business. They want to have the inforamtion for doing complex > accounting in GnuCash.
> > This Tutorial and Concept is for that business people too. I understand this and agree. I fully expect that these options will be described within the Guide; my point is that the NAHS assistant presents options to new users that they are unlikely to comprehend and do not actually need to decide when they create a new account hierarchy. Presumably, experienced users will know where to access the settings that they can change after an initial hierarchy has been created. > >> >> <aside>I’ll note that this becomes an obvious issue when I attempt to write >> the help section for the screen. I am left either with writing a huge >> explanatory section on the details of each of these settings, which detracts >> from the flow of the NAHS narrative, or with adding a generic note that >> advises users to accept the defaults and read about the details in other >> sections of the Guide.</aside> >> >> So, for the new user, the only real effect of this screen is to introduce >> confusion and questions. Can it be removed from the assistant? >> >> Related to this screen, my second question has to do with the “Use Trading >> Accounts” setting. Can it be turned off once it has been enabled in a given >> GnuCash file? >> >> ISTR that this option is a one-way street—i.e., that, once turned on, it can >> not be turned off again. Is this still the case? If it is still true, then I >> would strongly suggest that this option shouldn’t be placed on the NAHS >> Assistant, since a new user won’t be aware of this. > > I myself got starting with Gnucash to map a complex buaisness accounting > to GnuCash. That was also the starting point to do the translation to > German, esp. of the Business part. > > IMO it is neccessary to have MORE information in the Documentation NOT LESS. We are in total agreement here; my email isn’t about removing information from the documentation, but rather how the NAHS is structured. Since you have been active in translation of the documentation into German, I should alert you that I am process of a significant reorganization of the documentation, so as to put more of the analytical content into the Guide. The current editorial process is focused on moving most of Chapter 3 of the Help into chapter 2 of the Guide, and while I am mostly just moving the text from one file to the other, there are editorial changes that are being made on both sides to adjust to the new status. I sincerely hope that my edits will be clear, and that past translators will be able to migrate the translations without too much trouble. David > > -- > Mechtilde Stehmann > ## Apache OpenOffice > ## Freie Office Suite für Linux, MacOSX, Windows > ## Debian Developer > ## Loook, calender-exchange-provider, libreoffice-canzeley-client > ## PGP encryption welcome > ## F0E3 7F3D C87A 4998 2899 39E7 F287 7BBA 141A AD7F > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-devel mailing list > gnucash-devel@gnucash.org > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel _______________________________________________ gnucash-devel mailing list gnucash-devel@gnucash.org https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-devel
