[scribus] manual

[John Culleton]

On Sunday 18 July 2010 14:34:23 Margaret and George 
McIntosh wrote:
> On 18 Jul 2010 at 14:10, John Culleton wrote:
> > On Sunday 18 July 2010 12:30:37 Alexandre Prokoudine
> >
> > wrote:
> > > On 7/18/10, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> > > > My hat is off to the Scribus team for having created 
a
> >
> > manual. Few open
> >
> > > > source projects have a manual.
> > >
> > > Quite in opposite. Most GNOME and KDE applications
> >
> > have manuals. Just F1 :)
> >
> > > > Most don't even have PDFs. At least half
> > > > don't even have a help file.
> > >
> > > Producing a PDF out of DocBook/XML from any
> >
> > GNOME/KDE app's help is
> >
> > > not exactly rocket science.
> > >
> > > > Some would create documentation, but hate to 
write, or
> >
> > can't
> >
> > > > write at all. To most it never occurs that 
documentation
> >
> > is important.
> >
> > > Writing documentation is not job of a programmer. 
Then
> >
> > don't have to
> >
> > > even think about it.
> >
> > In my days as a programming supervisor, it was 
considered
> > good form to create user documentation first, then do 
the
> > coding to fit. For program documentation (HIPO 
diagram,
> > flow chart, Decision Logic tables etc.) that was 
generally
> > done and approved before coding started.
> >
> > In today's world things are different, but the person who
> > understands the functionality is still the best person to 
write
> > the user guide. I have never understood the 
unwillingness of
> > programmers to write user guides. After all, English (or
> > whatever) is just another language, like C or Python.
>
> Have you ever read some of Microsoft's help and users 
manuals? They are
> written in a language I don't understand, even though it is 
English. Are
> they written by programmers?
>
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The installation instructions for e.g., Win XP is about as far 
as I have gone with Microsoft.  I don't doubt that many 
programmers write lousy instructions. I have never 
understood why. 

The current Scribus Manual is pretty good. Some of the 
books on Gimp, Incscape etc are excellent. The first part of 
the documentation on the Memoir class of LaTeX is a gem, 
and has now been made available separately. It describes 
what authoring, layout etc. is all about in generic terms. 
-- 
John Culleton
Wexford Press
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
Printable E-book 38 pages $5.95
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html