What are we doing wrong?

[Richard JOHNSON]

On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 10:48:27AM +0000, Phil Bull wrote:
[...]
> What are we doing wrong? My hunches are:

I can't tell you what Ubuntu/GNOME is doing wrong, as I don't use that
platform. Being a KDE user and developer, one thing I can note is that KDE
users do utilize KHelpCenter for help and documentation. I know so, because
they tend to yell loudly about how bad the current set of docs are.

Personally, I think part of the problem lies in the tools we use in order
access system documentation. Ubuntu uses Yelp, Kubuntu use KHelpCenter, and
Xubuntu is using a web browser. In KHelpCenter you can view GNOME docs and
vice-versa. Yelp will at least read KDE docs, but it doesn't parse
correctly. And a browser (except for Konqueror) has issues with GNOME and
KDE docs. Kubuntu docs are fine in KHelpCenter, Yelp, and a web browser, as
we build out our docs into HTML. I would love to see a common backend for
documentation viewing. This way here we can have our Qt, GTK, <insert
whatever toolkit> frontend, and we can read all of the docs in a single
location. No need for me to have 2 or 3 different documentation viewers.
This is something I hope to cover March 20th and 21st at the Desktop Help
Summit that Shaun McCance has graciously created and will be held right
here in Chicago. We are hoping to bring all of the documentation
collaborators from around the free desktop environment world together for a
weekend of work.

And speaking of icons, I am sorry, but I do not see how one wouldn't
realize the blue circle with a question mark in the top bar in Ubuntu
wouldn't signify help of some sort. A usability study was done on such an
icon years ago, and that is the reason Windows, GNOME, KDE, $x, and $y all
share a common help icon. KDE actually uses a life saver, orange white, and
people realize that is where they can get help.

-- 
 Name|  Richard JOHNSON
Title|  Developer
  WWW|  http://www.ubuntu.com
Email|  nixternal at ubuntu.com
GnuPG|  3578 0981 A21D D662 2A96  7623 F4C1 838C D8C4 4738
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