documents team,One of the things that makes theese documents good is that they stick to
please forgive at the outset that i have a broken shift function, and that this will be a draft. still, i think it will be clear enough that you'll understand.
the purpose of this email is to show how to distinguish lyx as the latest and greatest way to prepare documents, and to present word processors as being archaic, legacy, outdated, whatever term you like, or not to mention them at all.
to begin, i have both good news and bad. the good news is that lyx help documents are some of the best technical writing i've ever seen, and i've seen lots. the writers have cut through the garbage and made the difficult seem like child's play. the bad news is that there is almost no sense of salesmanship in these same documents. the web site appears to be in much better shape with respect to that.
the point. Each have a purpose, and "selling lyx" isn't really one of them.
Feel free to write advertising material, sales brochures and such. That'll
be fine, but I don't think it'll belong in those existing documents. The user guide is for looking up stuff. The user reading the guide already got
the package, and aren't interested in knowing why he ought to get lyx.
The intro is for the newcomer who just got it, and need to learn to use it.
There isn't much existing advertising for this
free sw so perhaps the intro get used for such purposes. It may not fit
marketing purposes too well, but it is fine as an intro.
consider that i am a new pair of eyes looking at these documents for the first time. i'm standing away and examining the product whereas the writers may be too close to see the problem.
the introduction as selected from the lyx help menu begins with a joke comparing word processors to food processors. the implication is that word processors are bad things. in the first subsection of chapter 1 of that same document, the first sentence distinguishes lyx as a document preparation system. the implication is that lyx is different from word processors and that this is a good thing. beyond those initial statements, there is much confusion. i keep seeing headings or statements such as, "the difference between lyx and other word processors is blah blah blah". stop. or statements like, "lyx is better than other word processors because blah blah blah". stop. do you see what's wrong with these statements? the problem is that they can be interpreted to mean that lyx also is a word processor. in fact, that's the most probable way to interpret them. it would be good to remove the word 'other', and i'm sure you understand that doing so would allow lyx to retain its separation from word processors.
The way I see it is that lyx is _also_ a word processor, "word processor" being a subset of "document processor". the latter would be lacking a cruical part without the former! However, writing stuff like "the word processing parts of lyx are different from other word processors because . . ." is probably not the way to go. Very precise but tedious. [...]
lyx can't afford to lose its identity as 'the world's first document preparation system', nor the concept that lyx is the latest and greatest. why not? that's your big advantage. there are already a gazillion word processors out there. lyx does not want to compete with any of them in a head on battle. lyx would lose. they've got a gazillion dollars to advertise, and lyx has none.
Is anybody actually selling lyx? I have the impression people use it because friends recommend it and such. There are some problems with advertising: 1. Smart people don't believe too much in advertising anyway. They actually do some research when they find they need a "document preparation system". 2. Dumber/gullible people fall for advertising. Great if you sell something for money, but lyx is free. The only motive for advertising it then, would be to make the world better. That only happens if those people use lyx for something it is useful for. A pen is better if all you write is postcards. :-)
i think by now you understand. the trouble is that your three main help documents, the intro, tutorial, and user's guide all are rife with this problem. and there are other problems. i recall seeing a statement something like this: the eight basic functions of any word processor are blah blah blah. why does the user care what the eight basic functions of any word processor are if lyx isn't one? again, the quick fix is obvious. there are many other examples of this. the reader is even asked to type in some of these statements. and then there's a footnote in the introduction that begins something like, 'to be fair, most recent versions of the most popular office suites now have some sort of style sheets, but in practice they are rarely used.' at first glance, this seems good. it gives lyx an appearance of being honest and credible. but, whoever wrote this stopped short of taking full advantage. they could have added, "why do you think these office suites added style sheets? they have to pay for those additions to their software. they wouldn't be copying lyx unless it is a great idea. we built ours in from the beginning. they had to bloat their software and add style sheets as an afterthought."I believe people were meant to figure that one out themselves - saying it out loud seems a little harsh. But good for a marketing document perhaps? :-)
you've got the picture. as promised earlier, my suggestion for a better solution is this: take the high ground and completely remove all references to 'word processors', including the joke. compare lyx to 'legacy' or 'outdated' or 'last generation' systems if you must, but i certainly think you're better off never using the term 'word processor' at all. you say, 'but how can we do
I think a comparison is in place - newcomers _will_ always ask questions like "why use/learn lyx, when I have openoffice?" Pointing out some key advantages is usually a good idea.
this?' you can do this because anybody using lyx already knows about word processors, - or they don't. if it's the first case, you describe how lyx works and allow them to discover the similarities so that they can say to their delight, 'hey, i know how this works!' which will encourage them to go further.
If they get that far. The advantages of lyx is something they shouldn't miss, I guess that's why they are clearly described.
if it's the second case and they don't have a clue about word processors, all you'll do is add to the confusion if you write about word processors. instead, stay focused and write about why lyx is the latest and greatest.
They learn word processing in school these days, finding someone really clueless might be hard. Still, focusing on lyx advantages rather than
others deficiencies is probably good. Especially considering that
the others are trying to catch up, so particular disadvantages
might fade.
[...]
enough. i'm nowhere near as expert as you in a technical respect. but i would not mind giving a try at a rewrite using the existing technical material. there's a catch. isn't there always? i have prior commitments for about the next 70 to 90 days. if you can wait till early next year, i volunteer. if not, take my ideas and run with them. they are freely given. or trash them if you think they're garbage. you should be aware that if i do a rewrite, i may still need someone to come behind me to fix the upper case function as it doesn't seem likely i'll be able to get that repaired. no need to reply unless you would like my help.
I am sure that help with the documentation always is welcome.
Helge Hafting
