Help-files: Large-scale 'cosmetic' changes

Hello Peter

If you are comfortable with the help files, then the bug#80430 [1] has a
list of missing help files that LibreOffice need.

Everything written for the help files can (and will) be reused in the
Guides books and vice versa, modulo some adjustments. There is a big
overlap of contents between the two media.

Contents for documentation, either text or media is much needed at the
moment. Pick one of the open blocking bugs listed in [1] and write a
text document covering the topic. I must admit there is a game of
googling around to get the sources of the topic, in order to compose a
usefull help page.

[1] https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=80430

Kind regards

Olivier

Hi :slight_smile:
Yes! I totally agree.

Most people joining the documentation team are restricted to only working
on the Published Guides. Although there is a long wish-list of other
documentation that needs to be worked on and a long wish-list of things
people who have been in the team have wanted to work on. Often those
overlap but there are significant blockers preventing the much-needed work
from being done, as in the case of the 'in-built' help.

Sometimes people's best possible contribution is to do a bit to erode those
blockers. Getting discussion going often reveals more information about
the blockers and suggestions arise on how to deal with them.

For example i had no idea that you would have to lean Git nor that we would
probably need to set-up and handle a 'new language' - although i suspected
the later might be the case and i could see that blocking the whole thing.

There is a free course to help learn Git (and many other things) over at
Codecademy;
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-git
You can register yourself so there is no innate blocker there. I tend to
find there time estimates are woefully inadequate for me so their claim it
takes "2 hours" would probably take me 6 months, unless i could sit down
and really focus for that 'long' (in which case it might only take an
hour). I tend to register with at least 2 addresses so that on at least
one run-through i can apply their lessons to a 'real case' outside of their
website.

As for the setting up and administration of running a 'new' language i
think that's a discussion we need to take to the international translators
mailing list. Whether it is best to do that before or after (or both)
making some of the one-off changes to one or a few strings is something we
wont know until after it's been done! I was rather hoping that by copying
my recent reply to you to the international translators mailing list that
they might suddenly start organising an elegant answer, or at least start
re-discussing the issues.

Anyway, you are not expected to fulfil your offer of helping out with this
because we/I have failed to live up to our end of the bargain. Many
apologies for that! :frowning:
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: