[Scribus] Manual - interesting feedback

[Gregory Pittman]

I'm trying to absorb all the messages, and have to say that this is very 
stimulating.

I would emphasize that this intro is a test balloon, and at least for 
the moment I want to focus on trying to fix the fixable rather than 
simply abandoning it. In that regard, Andreas's comments are most 
welcome and worth working on. This may end up showing us what any Master 
Pages need to look like.
I began this already aware of the arguments against a manual, but still 
felt it worthwhile since many if not most are more philosophical than 
demonstrated. The interesting thing is to see how much easier the wiki 
is as a cooperative effort than this manual. The manual it seems shows 
you while you might consider having a meal made by a number of chefs, 
you wouldn't want a number of chefs working on a single course. In fact, 
we might well see how different "chefs" prepare different parts of the 
manual. There have been discussions about what comprises "good" design, 
and conceivably a manual might demonstrate some principles many could 
agree  or disagree ;-) upon.

1.3.3.x versus 1.3.4+
My feeling is that if we target 1.3.4+ for the manual we are trying to 
make it for something not fully functional. There was general agreement 
that even when 1.2.x became outmoded, there was value to the tutorial in 
its original state. Like the tutorial, I don't see the manual as being 
targeted to the most advanced user or cutting edge versions. Aside from 
that, since this will be an "open source" manual, it can be updated 
whenever desired or necessary. One can take a version and "fork" it at 
any time.

Wiki versus Manual
While we might think that there is some "pot" of energy out there, from 
which we can ladle either into the Wiki or the Manual, I disagree. We 
all see times when we have boundless energy, other  times when we seem 
to get nothing new done. Some creative tension like we're seeing here 
/can/ be invigorating, and there is no reason why the Wiki and Manual 
cannot feed off each other in that regard.

Greg