[Shotwell] Contributing to Yorba/Shotwell

Sun May 30 00:05:10 PDT 2010

Ühel kenal päeval, P, 2010-05-30 kell 02:22, kirjutas David Velazquez:
> Hey Bengt, something distribution independent isn't a bad idea at all.
> Integrating nicely with GNOME would probably work well. I'm a bit confused
> about what you mean by the guide and distro specific documentation. What
> would distro specific documentation be that a guide or help text would not
> be? I agree though that the Shotwell team/website should be the ultimate
> source of information. Having too many texts scattered around is bound to
> create confusion for the user. Right now Help -> Contents in Shotwell links
> to the Shotwell wiki whereas the Help -> Contents in a program like Evince
> brings up a manual on the desktop. I imagine this would be the distro
> specific information you're talking about, but it appears to be pretty in
> depth.

I suppose Bengt is mistaken here.
Using GNOME tools and maybe framework is distribution independent. 
GNOME is not a distribution. Ubuntu extensively uses GNOME and GNOME
documentation (same as many other distributions).
In contrary, doing things only for Ubuntu would be one-distribution
solution.

> 
> To briefly summarize, right now what I think we have come up with is a
> general idea to use Mallard or DocBook as mentioned earlier. Probably
> Mallard as it looks like it's the future for GNOME even though it might be
> slightly harder to wrap a novices head around. We also have an idea that the
> guide should be distro independent and anything in Ubuntu (lets say) should
> direct people to the formal Shotwell guide. I'm still a bit unsure on that
> last part since I've never done anything like this before and am not sure
> what the protocol is.

>From DocBook you get easily PDF and HTML output, which is the most
(distribution) independent way to share documentation, AFAIK. 
(I think this would apply to mallard as well, maybe some additional work
is required).
http://wiki.docbook.org/topic/DocBookPublishingTools

Why GNOME prefers to distribute most documentation along with programs,
is that not all computers are connected to Internet, while used, and
online documentation would not be available then.

Mattias

> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 1:51 AM, Bengt Thuree <bengt at thuree.com> wrote:
> 
> > And I just wanted to add that as popular as Ubuntu is, I think it is of a
> > higher priority to get a good Help text for Shotwell which is distribution
> > independent.
> >
> > Would also be good to have a Shotwell guide (look at GnuCash Guide (1))
> >
> > The distribution specific documentations should hopefully not go to much
> > into details, but refer to the detailed Shotwell documentation (Help text,
> > as well as various guides or whatever) which will be updated by the
> > Shotwell team.
> >
> > Just in case you do not have this information about Mallard (GNOME 3.0
> > help system) check this link (2)
> >
> > 1) http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.0/C/gnucash-guide/
> > 2) http://projectmallard.org/about/learn/tenminutes.html
> >
> > /Bengt
> >
> > Den Sö, 2010-05-30, 15:31 skrev Mattias Põldaru:
> > > Forgot to add before, Conglomerate seems to be a nice DocBook editor:
> > > http://www.conglomerate.org/
> > >
> > >
> > > Mattias
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> You might want to read GNOME documentation Handbook, they use DocBook
> > >> format:
> > http://library.gnome.org/devel/gdp-handbook/stable/index.html.en
> > >>
> > >> Also, Shotwell could use GNOME for both application and documentation
> > >> translations, it works rather well and translations there are definitely
> > >> of better quality than for example in launchpad.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Regards
> > >> Mattias
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Ãœhel kenal pÃ¤eval, P, 2010-05-30 kell 00:23, kirjutas David Velazquez:
> > >> > Hi Bengt, Bruno. I had not seen ticket #1143 at all. It looks like a
> > >> project
> > >> > indeed and I'd be happy to try and tackle it. I'm not experienced in
> > >> using
> > >> > DocBook format or Mallard as the ticket mentions, but looking at them
> > >> > briefly it seems it might not be too hard to wrap my head around it.
> > >> >
> > >> > Regarding the Ubuntu Manual project, it doesn't seem as if they're
> > >> > requesting documentation on software yet, do you think they would
> > >> still
> > >> > accept it or even want it done? I see they're using TexLive which
> > >> appears to
> > >> > be an alternative to both DocBook and Mallard.
> > >> >
> > >> > I wouldn't mind getting started on writing out more stuff for Shotwell
> > >> (or
> > >> > any of Yorbas others projects), but which one to go with? TexLive,
> > >> DocBook,
> > >> > or Mallard (if they are indeed alternatives to one another). A goal
> > >> should
> > >> > be, I think, for anything that's done to be able to be used in as many
> > >> ways
> > >> > as possible. For example: Something done as a guide to download off of
> > >> > Shotwells site should (in an ideal world) be able to just be tossed
> > >> into the
> > >> > Ubuntu Manual project should they request stuff on software.
> > >> >
> > >> > Thanks for your thoughts on this. Hopefully I might be on my way to a
> > >> > workable project.
> > >> > On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 6:50 AM, Bruno Girin <brunogirin at gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > > On Sat, 2010-05-29 at 04:32 -0400, David Velazquez wrote:
> > >> > > > Please, pardon me if this seems too long, too much like a rant, or
> > >> just
> > >> > > the
> > >> > > > wrong place for this. It's just something I've had in my head as
> > >> of late.
> > >> > > > I've sent it to this list only for the reason that this is the
> > >> project I
> > >> > > > would like to help out. Not everything in here applies to Yorba,
> > >> however,
> > >> > > I
> > >> > > > felt it essential so people knew where I was coming from.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > I've been an Ubuntu user on and off for a while now and I've
> > >> always
> > >> > > wanted
> > >> > > > to actively contribute to an open source/free software project.
> > >> > > > Unfortunately, most of the time the calls for help are for
> > >> developers or
> > >> > > > translators. Unfortunately, I know no other languages and am
> > >> therefore
> > >> > > quite
> > >> > > > useless on both fronts. I do, however, enjoy writing (as will be
> > >> evident
> > >> > > by
> > >> > > > the time I'm done here). For this reason I feel like I could help
> > >> out
> > >> > > > projects with documentation efforts. Even if most users will never
> > >> read
> > >> > > the
> > >> > > > documentation provided it always seems to make the project look
> > >> more
> > >> > > > polished and professional. Usually when it gets right down to it I
> > >> get
> > >> > > put
> > >> > > > off by one thing or another though, the most common of which seems
> > >> to be
> > >> > > how
> > >> > > > to make that leap from spectator and user to contributor.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > Often it seems open source projects are spread out on many
> > >> different
> > >> > > sites
> > >> > > > from Launchpad to Trac to personal websites and a mixture of all
> > >> three.
> > >> > > > This, coupled with what at first glance seems like a closed off
> > >> > > community,
> > >> > > > can present an insurmountable hurdle to the prospective volunteer.
> > >> In my
> > >> > > > personal experience I see opportunities for assistance, but no
> > >> clear cut
> > >> > > way
> > >> > > > of getting information on where to begin, what to do, or a way of
> > >> > > > collaborating with others so work is not done and redone. Trac
> > >> might work
> > >> > > > well for developers, but it leaves the lowly folk like me out in
> > >> the
> > >> > > dark.
> > >> > > > Wanting to contribute but not knowing how. Shotwells' own page
> > >> welcomes
> > >> > > > contributions in the form of artwork, documentation, and more, but
> > >> to the
> > >> > > > common reader leaves no other information in the form of how to
> > >> get
> > >> > > started,
> > >> > > > what needs working on, or any other information.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > I'm not sure what I'm requesting here, other than a more defined
> > >> path for
> > >> > > > people like me who wish to contribute but might not know where to
> > >> get
> > >> > > > started or what to get started on. In a broader sense a place for
> > >> people
> > >> > > > like me to find tasks that can be done and collaborate on them
> > >> until they
> > >> > > > reach that goal is what comes to mind. A volunteers center of
> > >> sorts.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > I believe there are many others like me who would love to help out
> > >> their
> > >> > > > favorite project, but due to the very nature of such software they
> > >> would
> > >> > > > like to help out find it difficult to do so. Centralizing software
> > >> (which
> > >> > > > Yorba has so nicely done!), laying out defined and specific things
> > >> which
> > >> > > > need doing (for us non-developers), and providing a strong
> > >> starting point
> > >> > > > with information on how to get started and where to go for help
> > >> should
> > >> > > all
> > >> > > > serve to increase the (long term) amount of volunteers software
> > >> like this
> > >> > > > receives.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > In short, it's tough to dive head first in and help out wherever
> > >> help is
> > >> > > > needed. I'm here and would love to contribute to any of Yorbas
> > >> projects
> > >> > > with
> > >> > > > documentation (since this is about all I can do) if I only knew
> > >> where to
> > >> > > > start.
> > >> > >
> > >> > > Dave,
> > >> > >
> > >> > > A possible start would be to contribute Shotwell documentation to
> > >> the
> > >> > > Ubuntu Manual project [1]. The project has already delivered a first
> > >> > > version for Lucid so there is a complete structure in place. Once
> > >> > > written, that documentation could be made generic and transformed
> > >> into a
> > >> > > standalone Shotwell guide.
> > >> > >
> > >> > > [1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual
> > >> > >
> > >> > > Bruno
> > >> > >
> > >> > >
> > >> > > _______________________________________________
> > >> > > Shotwell mailing list
> > >> > > Shotwell at lists.yorba.org
> > >> > > http://lists.yorba.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/shotwell
> > >> > >
> > >> > _______________________________________________
> > >> > Shotwell mailing list
> > >> > Shotwell at lists.yorba.org
> > >> > http://lists.yorba.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/shotwell
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Shotwell mailing list
> > > Shotwell at lists.yorba.org
> > > http://lists.yorba.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/shotwell
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Bengt Thuree   bengt at thuree.com
> >
> >
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