Ingo Klöcker wrote:
Am Mittwoch, 19. Juli 2006 08:58 schrieb Martin A. Hansen:
So what is the typical use-case for the LyX Manual? That someone wants
to read it from the first page to the last page? Or that someone wants
to read about a specific subject, say including graphics?
In my experience the latter is the way more common use-case. I've read
the Introduction once and the Tutorial once. And now, every now and
then, I open the other two documents because I want to look something
up. Therefore it would be preferable if loading the part I'm interested
in wouldn't take 10 seconds but only 1 second. The only way to achieve
this is to split up the document. Of course, there should be a master
document with a complete toc so that I can quickly navigate to the
chapter I'm interested in. Ideally, for the user it wouldn't feel
different from one large lyx file with the exception that loading would
be magnitudes faster.
In any case, I'm pretty sure we can discuss this to death. Some people
prefer a several megabyte large HTML file and other people prefer the
same information nicely split up into several HTML files per chapter or
even section (with nice navigation buttons of course). While the first
approach is only feasible for people with a fast internet connection
the second approach is feasible for anyone.
And as always there's the option to do both. Provide the LyX manual as
one huge single file and additionally split up into several files. I'd
put the multiple-files version into the release and put the URL of the
single file version near the start of the multiple-files version.
Regards,
Ingo
I wasn't so sure that consolidated Help guides were all that useful.
But making one in .pdf format and one in .lyx format to satisfy those
who wanted it wasn't all that hard, so why not. It's on the Wiki.
There are people who don't enjoy discussing things and they tend to
describe the people who do enjoy it as "beating a good horse to death".
Single .lyx help guides already exist and it is pretty easy to pdflatex
a pdf version from Lyx and there are existing multiple .lyx/pdf guides
it doesn't seem fruitful to debate preferences.
Learning visually brings to mind the Visual FAQ which demonstrates
how to do something on the page itself and links to the tug FAQ.
http://www.tug.org/tex-archive/info/visualFAQ/
"Having trouble finding the answer to a LaTeX question? The Visual
LaTeX FAQ is an innovative new search interface that presents over a
hundred typeset samples of frequently requested document formatting.
Simply click on a hyperlinked piece of text and the Visual LaTeX FAQ
will send your Web browser to the appropriate page in the UK TeX FAQ."
SH: I think a LyX VisualFAQ is a possible Wiki documentation project.
Ingo: Of course, there should be a master document with a complete
toc so that I can quickly navigate to the chapter I'm interested in.
SH: The problem with keyword searches is that you have to know the
keyword. We could create a detailed cross-referenced index of the
entire Wiki which would be similar to the ouput of several hundred
keyword searches. This master index would point to the document(s)
which contained the concept being researched or related ideas. One
wouldn't have to wade through several documents to find the right
one. The way it is now, "layouts" might produce 12 hits, but which
one of the 12 should be prioritized in your reading? A detailed
index incorporates a meta-toc.
Such a document would also be useful for building the Visual LyX
FAQ. It would inform the FAQ as to which document informs the
reader in more detail about a particular process by a hyperlink
to the doc and/or the Index. This treats the whole Wiki as a FAQ.
The index would also point to duplicate entries needing editing or
possible deletion in an effort to become systematically sectioned
when dividing the whole into assigned parts for a group undertaking.
People don't all learn the same way,
Stephen
