A New Look at How We Write Content for the Desktop User Guide

[Kam]

Hi Elizabeth!  Thanks for your comments. Hopefully I will be able to meet your expectations in documentation I am a part of in the future. (I am a new documentation contributor)

You are welcome to contact me with feedback or commentary on any documentation at this point forward.

--
Kam
http://kamsalisbury.com
GPG key: FAF1751E

-----Original Message-----

From:  Elizabeth Ann West <elizabeth at eawestwriting.com>
Subj:  A New Look at How We Write Content for the Desktop User Guide
Date:  Fri Oct 3, 2008 10:18 am
Size:  9K
To:  fedora-docs-list at redhat.com

Hello All,

I am a fairly new contributor to Fedora-Docs, and a <1 year Linux user.
My background is predominantly writing, so I approach the documentation
more from a literary stand point than a heavily entrenched computer
user. If anything, I'm a good example of the type of person you are
looking to convert from proprietary software to open source. 

I took a hard look at the Desktop Users Guide F9, specifically the page
giving instructions to install financial software. First, there was a
large issue with the content-- the instructions simply would not work
for a new user with Fedora 9. Second, the instructions were not clear
for a brand new user to Linux.  

After finishing the content change, and major style changes to the
Financial Software page, I deconstructed the changes and differences so
others may learn from them, and contribute their own ideas and
experiences. Yes, we are writing documentation for free, but we have an
opportunity here as open source enthusiasts to use our piece of the
project at large to further the cause and acceptance of Fedora as an
operating system. These suggestions below are only for the Desktop Users
Guide, the specialized guide for new users of Fedora, presumably coming
from Windows, without Linux experience.

For discussion purposes, this is the old page:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/DesktopUserGuide/Financial 

This is the new and improved page:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User_Guide-Financial_Software 

Here are the major improvements I want to point out as potential "best
practices" for future work on the Desktop User Guide: 

      * The page stands completely alone for a new user. 
Links and everything are great, but switching to a new operating system
is highly nerve-wracking. I have done this 3 times in the last 5 months,
including  my first switch to Linux from Windows. Experienced Linux
users take so much for granted, when just something as simple as
installing software from a command line is foreign (a distant memory for
Windows users who remember DOS). Ease new users' frustrations by
providing all needed instructions in one document page or chapter that
apply to functionality, or getting something done. Certainly link to
topics that may be of interest to me for other actions, but don't leave
out information I need to accomplish what I want/need to do right now.
It's like giving landmarks when you give someone directions for the
first time, instead of letting them rely just on Mapquest, or sending
them an entire road map for the state.

      * Stand alone chapters fit in more with how all users utilize help
        manuals.
We're all guilty of this one. No one voluntarily reads a help manual
from cover to cover unless he or she absolutely must. New and old users
alike use an index for printed manuals to jump right to the information
needed, and electronically search is a godsend. Working to write and
offer stand alone chapters helps the users help themselves in the manner
they naturally will try first. The fewer places a user must go for
information, the more likely he or she can use the data effectively.

      * White space is visually pleasing in print and electronically.
The old version crams together two sets of instructions to perform the
same task, without clearly delineating when the desired result is
accomplished in either situation. The new version sets off the simple
sentence "[Application] is now installed on your computer." with a
double line space on each side. This naturally draws the eye to the
completion of the first set of instructions, without a garish ALL CAPS
or other formatting scream. Breaking up complex instruction sets with
this practice re-focuses the reader's attention. This is vital, as it is
likely the user is hopping between windows, reading directions, and then
carrying them out. Under the old instruction set, a new user from
Windows very possibly could install with the command line, miss the
concept that terminal and Pirut are two different methods of the same
thing (after all both are new to the user), and keep following the
directions ticking that box to remove the application. Over and over
again until they decide it's just broken. The new page lets the reader
know in the introduction two installation methods are available, and
then uses white space to reinforce the distinction.

      * Give Graphical User Interface(GUI) example before command line,
        if possible.
The Desktop User Guide has an audience of someone with no previous Linux
experience. So, start with what is familiar, and move to the unfamiliar.
The prevalence of Windows has made mainstream computer users clickers,
clickers, clickers. Even shortcut commands are forsaken in the culture
of right-clicking. Windows has trained people to click 'Next', a
seemingly infinite numbers of times, and follow baby steps. It will
naturally occur to the new users how powerful and efficient the command
line is to Linux. Eventually, they will get to where they want to do
something beyond the scope of the Desktop User Guide and it will only
have instructions for the command line in a forum post or other
documentation. Starting out, it's enough for them to know it exists and
it will accomplish the same tasks as that clicking. Now, if the topic is
on the command line commands, there is little reason to start with GUI.

      * Qualify the information the user is reading.
One of the largest differences between Windows and Linux a new user
immediately encounters is just the sheer increase in information his or
her computer is sharing. On top of the increase, the computer also
demands new decisions the user never had to make before. What do you
mean I have the option of NOT installing these other packages, the ones
you are telling me will make this package I do want work? People are
naturally intimidated by notations they do not understand, like the
numbers with decimal points under a package's name in Add/Remove
Software. With instructions, leaving out actions or messages the
computer will give confuses a new user. It starts questions that stop
the process of learning: Is this normal? Where is this in the
instructions? Why can't I find this step? Did I mess up? Going back to
the landmarks concept when you give someone road directions, I added the
messages Add/Remove Software gives while it is performing the user's
requests. 

This is from my personal first experiences with Add/Remove Software, it
was s......l......o......w (I fixed it when I disabled the auto-updater,
not advice I want to share as a good habit to get into). Everything
else, Internet, chat, was moving very briskly. As soon as I quit
everything and just started Add/Remove Software it was still so
painfully slow even I gave up a few times trying to install GnuCash. If
I was reading instructions, the "Downloading repository information"
landmark would at least reassure me the application was still working,
not stuck or refreshing itself.

Some other quick notes: 
      * Changed icon info to "associated" as neither installation method
        auto-creates desktop launcher. Didn't get into that because it
        doesn't fit the "do I need it for this function" litmus test. 
      * Clarified confusion the first page had of Live-CD versus DVD to
        plainly state DVD has both, does not install automagically, if
        you do not have Internet access use the DVD, otherwise..... list
        of instructions to install. 
      * Qualified the information that suddenly appears in the bottom
        boxes when they tick the box as just extra information so they
        don't think it affects the install. 
      * Included [y/N] step for command line so the new user isn't
        hesitant about answering yes. Anytime a Windows user encounters
        typing 'y' or 'n' it's not usually a good thing. Also, again
        qualified all that test the Terminal spits out is just
        information about the application so they don't try to keep up. 
      * Opted to teach Search box rather than clicking Office category
        because Office category takes too long to populate, and new
        users will be turned off trying to find the exact name of the
        package to install from that long list when none of the icons
        are different.

Limitations/Criticisms 
      * Have not placed in links to those "extra words and concepts"
        like KDE Desktop Environment should link to the page about that.
        I don't quite understand yet which are new versus old, versus
        frozen in the document structure (many all look the same to me).
        I need help to add that in. 
      * Have not taken my editor's scalpel to the wording. I know there
        are a number of passive sentences, but I am too close to the
        text right now to see the problems or areas for improvement. In
        a few days, I can better judge nuances in wording. 
      * Other writers may not care for this style as it is more
        involved, and fights against the elitist concept of self
        discovery that is so common in the open source community. 
      * Other writers and Fedora doc leaders may not care for the
        writing style because of the departure from the traditional, or
        view it as repeating the same information over and over again. 
      * Many others I'm sure.....

I invite others to weigh in on this issue. I am very open to hear
criticism and realize critiquing my content is not the same as
critiquing me. :) I want to offer my strong English background to help
our group as a whole start to question when we work on documents: Who am
I writing this for? What knowledge will they already know? 

Always Smiling,
Elizabeth Ann West

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