Amarok Quick Guide

[Myriam Schweingruber]

Hi Willem,

On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 12:26, Willem Ferguson
<willemferguson at zoology.up.ac.za> wrote:
> Dear Amarockers,
>
> The section on 'Starting Amarok' currently contains instruction specific
> to KDE/Kubuntu. If we wish that Amarok becomes an opensource contender
> for software like iTunes, then this section needs to be generic for
> other OSs/user interfaces such as Gnome, Mac as well as Windows.  While
> I understand and respect the emphasis on KDE, the software is not
> intended only for use within the KDE environment and this needs to be
> solidly reflected in the introduction, especially in any section that
> deals with 'Starting Amarok'.

I don't think it is Kubuntu specific currently, but KDE specific of
course, since almost all of us use it on KDE. I think we can add a
special mention on how to start/close Amarok on other
Desktops/Operating systems, but this needs to be clearly labelled as
such. Almost all the rest is OS/Desktop independent. Feel free to add
specifications for that here:
http://userbase.kde.org/Amarok/QuickStartGuide/GettingStarted

> Secondly, the screen shots currently in the userbase are pretty small
> and in may cases illegible.

Did you see that those are thumbs and you can click on it to enlarge
the images? This can be changed very easily in the wiki, as he
original image is uploaded. This article specifies the recommended
sizes for illustrations:
http://userbase.kde.org/Toolbox#Illustrate_your_text

See also http://userbase.kde.org/Taking_Screenshots on how to create
screenshots for Userbase articles.

I think it is important to respect those guidelines, since we do use
that wiki. Also make sure your screenshots do only show the default
configuration, unless you want to illustrate specific configurations
or layout changes. Using other Themes/Desktops/Operating Systems
should be clearly labeled as such, but I am not really convinced that
all screenshots need to be done on all platforms. While I see the
importance of that in the "Getting started" section, I rather think
that a screenshot section specific for other platforms should be made
for screenshots not taken on KDE. It is after all a First User guide,
most people will use the default settings for quite some time before
changing layouts, themes or other customizations. I would recommend to
add that as an illustration of what other possibilities there are, but
it belongs more the Manual than the QuickStartGuide. For more
information on the Manual please see also my other mail of today.

> I went to great trouble to optimise the
> screen shots in the original Google doc in terms of size and legibility
> while minimising clutter in the doc. For instance, I inserted some split
> screen shots (two screens shots combined into a single figure) in order
> to use the page width efficiently. For an an introductory user guide, it
> is not useful to have to double-click a screen shot to see it in legible
> format. It is a a user-UNfriendly approach. The screen shots need to be
> prepared in an appropriate size to be immediately read and understood by
> any person who reads the doc. Many users are likely to be newbies, not
> neccesarily conversant with KDE. User friendliness of the Quick Guide is
> crucial for encouraging a broad acceptance of Amarok.

Totally agree with you on that, but mixing screenshots in a First User
Guide for various sections is not user friendly at all, and will only
add more confusion. Links to specific screenshots for other uses can
be integrated, of course.

> Thirdly, versioning needs to implemented on the document being developed
> on the Quick Guide in the UserBase. I suggest a versioning convention
> that follows the current version of Amarok. This will reduce confusion
> later when later versions of Amarok is released and that would need to
> be supported by a Quick Guide.

This is of course going to be done, the current Guide is a first and
will be labeled as 0.10 by default, once it goes live. It will apply
to version 2.3.2 of Amarok, to be released in a few weeks.

Please also join us in #rokymotion on irc.freenode.net where we can
coordinate work in real time.

Thanks a lot for participating in that work. BTW, don't forget to add
your credits to the screenshots you upload in Userbase, and add your
name to the authors list. Please also make sure to check the default
license for Userbase articles.


Regards, Myriam.
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