New Member Introduction - Lisa

Documentation General
#1

Hi everyone! :slight_smile:

My name is Lisa, and I recently received my bachelor’s degree in Business Admin: Information Systems. However, I’ve always had a passion for writing, particularly technical writing. Therefore, I developed my skills through courses and solo projects as well.

I use various open source software, and I’ve always wanted to contribute to open source software documentation in some way, but found the process daunting to jump into. However, I want to step outside my comfort zone and finally delve into contributing while bolstering my skills in software technical writing. Therefore, I’m determined to help refine LibreOffice’s documentation and make it more accessible for all.

If anyone has some pointers for me on how to get started, that would be extremely helpful. Thank you and looking forward to working with you all.

#2

Hello Lisa

If you want to help in creating the LibreOffice user guides you will be very welcome. Olivier Hallot is the person to contact if you want to join the LO Documentation Team.

I am responsible for the Impress and Draw user guides as a one man show and have been for several years. I know these two user guides and it never takes long to update when new LO software versions are released.

The thing with technical writing is to be as clear and precise as possible. You have to get into to the mind of a user who may not be familiar with the software. I use the following basic rules when creating user guides.

  1. No more than six sentences per paragraph. If necessary, the occasional paragraph can have more than six sentences to create a better understanding of the paragraph contents.
  2. Sentences should not be longer than 25 words. If necessary, the occasional sentence can have more than 25 words to create a better understanding of the sentence contents.
  3. Never use word contractions, for example don’t, it’s, can’t and so on. Always write in full, for example, do not; it is; cannot.
  4. Never use the possessive apostrophe, for example Peter’s computer. Use the phrase “the computer belonging to Peter”.

I use Simplified English rules where possible. It is not simple English, it is technical writing. This helps in translation of English into other languages. SE also helps users whose mother tongue is not English and give them a better understanding of what is written.

Hope the above helps. Any questions please let me know and hopefully I will be able to help.

Regards

Peter Schofield
psauthor@gmail.com
Technical Writer, LO Documentation Team

1 Like
#3

you’re not alone !

A first easy spot is trying to directly help user from Ask Libreoffice.
May give you a perspective on the famous RTFM :wink:
and also : Top meta bug for documentation

and more …
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/DocumentationTeamInfo/StyleGuide#Writing_style

1 Like
#4

Haha, it’s nice to know that others feel the same about open source contribution. Also, thank you so much for the links, particularly the style guide. I’ll be sure to look over it thoroughly. :slight_smile:

#5

Hi Peter,

Thank you for such a thorough response. Also, wow, kudos to you for working on the Impress and Draw user guides solo. I can only imagine how much work it is!

Also, I’ll be sure to follow the guidelines you listed regarding user guides. Someone linked the style guide too, so I am looking through that to get a better feel for the style I should strive for. Once again, I appreciate all the pointers, and I’m looking forward to helping anyway I can. :slight_smile:

Best,
Lisa Samy

#6

HI Lisa

Welcome!

Please note that software documentation has several targets and LibreOffice is a complex and extensive office suite. As bachelor in Business Admin on Information systems, you send some nice info on your skills.

We handle 3 major areas of documentation: User Guides, Software Help, Software Technical documentation. The last requires deep knowledge in programming and is better handled by people with strong skills in software development.

Software Help is hosted in our development infra and requires some knowledge in XML and build system. As the software evolves, the Help need constant updates and we create patches in the software version control system. If you have coding skills, you may challenge yourself here, it’s a nice start for enriching a resumé.

User guides are where most people is interested in, at least to start. We have 7 major books (~500 pages each) and covers all 6 modules of LibreOffice plus a Getting Started guide for the suite noobs. Our job here is to update and review the text with the new features introduced each 6 month by the developers. The focus is on end users, so you must read and write as user, with clarity and accuracy.

So question is: Where do you want to be?

To help you, we run a weekly meeting every FRIDAY at 15:00 UTC (check your time zone!) in a live sessions at

Jitsi TDF Doc Team

We are eager to meet your there.

We also have a Telegram group for documentation quick chat at

And this forum is for all kind of work communication on documentation.

Kind Regards
Olivier

1 Like
#7

Hello Lisa

It was hard going at the beginning. I now know the Draw and Impress so well, my workload has definitely eased.

Any questions, please ask and will try to help.

Regards

Peter Schofield
psauthor@gmail.com
Technical Writer, LO Documentation Team

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