Hi Ariel,
mmh, it's funny you want exactly that what we had more or less before.
Anyway I can understand your concerns and agree but see it more as an
initial start version and feel free to help. The main intention to move
the guide into the wiki was to get more contributions to the guide
(don't know if we really get more). The structure of the pages was given
by heading levels but it doesn't mean that this is fixed. We can combine
pages if it make sense. Clayton did it semi automatic ...
And of course it is a try to see if a wiki is the right tool to manage
this kind of book/guide.
PDF should be used for reading only. The source is now in the wiki and
changes should be made there (in the English version, the reference
version). And PDF readers are free ...
Juergen
Ariel Constenla-Haile wrote:
Hi all,
I was going to add this to Rony's question in
http://api.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=19428 but may
be is better to start a new thread.
First, to Rony's question about exporting to PDF, I'd add the idea to
export to ODT and even HTML: I (and know others also) don't like the PDF
format at all (it's a heavy format and it's not editable [unless you pay
some software or wait for OOo PDF import]), and prefer HTML, and of
course an editable ODT version will be the best option.
Second I find the main drawback in the way how the Dev's Guide is
structured in the Wiki: it has been split into small pages, so that now
in order to find something I must spend three times or even more than I
used when a whole chapter was in only one page.
Of course I am aware of the search enhancements in
http://api.openoffice.org, but this is also more time-consuming,
compared to when I just opened a whole chapter in Firefox, and did Ctrl
+ F to open the Search bottom bar, typed a word and highlighted all the
occurrences.
Also the navigator on the right side of the wiki pages has its
disadvantages: if you want to see the content inside one "node" you have
to select this and open the corresponding page to see more levels.
I give a long (sorry) example so that you can understand what I mean:
************************************************************************
[begin of the example, go the end if you don't have time ;-) ]
for example, to my answer in
http://api.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=19435
I already knew that UNO IDL types where introduced on the First Steps
chapter, but didn't remember exactly where
so I go to the main page
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/OpenOffice.org_Developers_Guide
in the navigator I click on the First Steps link that opens
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/FirstSteps/First_Steps
but there I get completely lost: I know that what I'm looking for is
there, but to search it I have to start opening every node/link in the
navigator on the right, in order to expand its content/subnodes.
At least I must browse the four first links until I click "Working with
Objects", that opens
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/FirstSteps/Working_with_Objects
and expands the nodes
* Working with Objects
* Objects, Interfaces, and Services
* Using Services
* Example: Working with a Spreadsheet Document
* Common Types
* Struct
* Any
* Sequence
* Element Access
where I find "Common Types", what I was looking for.
[end of example]
************************************************************************
This all is a waste of time, and searching in api.openoffice.org is no
good solution at all, because I would have to try with different word
combinations to find what I want, etc., while I *already* knew where it
was, but it was just hard to find (that's why I ended up opening my old,
out-of-date, xhtml copy of the Dev's Guide, searched in the First Steps
chapter, and once I knew the location went to the wiki). A main table of
contents isn't neither the answer when one wants to see/expand the
chapter contents from *within* the current page.
So here I'd suggest to implement the navigator as a tree (I've seen this
with html list + JavaScript, don't know if it's possible in this case)
and of course I'd like the option to see a whole chapter in one page.
Notice that this is not a critique to the idea of moving the Developer's
Guide on the Wiki, which in fact I find a great idea for keeping it
up-to-date and easier to contribute.
But as I spend most of my free time working with OOo's API and the Dev's
Guide, the actual state of the Dev's Guide wiki version makes me waste a
lot of time in comparison to the one-chapter-per-page version. Finally
I'm also aware that I may be the one who's wrong here, and I may have to
change my way of working...but as one gets older...
Regards
Ariel.
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