[kde-doc-english] K3b Manual

[Jadic Family]

As promissed I am attaching the plan to rewrite the k3b manual. It is divided 
in 3 phases in order of importance. Phase one will focus on adding missing 
features. The existing format will be kept intact and I will delete only 
things that are really not valid (anymore).

Later, as I get my feet wet I will do more in-depth things.

I discussed the plan with Sebastian and this is the final (starting) form.

I am sorry that I cannot do it directly in docbook now. It would take me too 
much learning time and I want to spend this time on actual documentation and 
only after I get it to an acceptable level I will start writing in docbook 
and move on to more specialised tasks.

Pls. let me know your opinion and mostly how do I send in the screenshots. 
Also if there are any guidelines on the screenshots (size, window decoration 
etc.) .... I haven't finished reading the KDE Doc Primer yet. Will do!

I would also like to know what is the deal with "Copyright Carsten Niehaus" 
and how this affects my intended modifications.

Adrian
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ToDo Plan.

Divided in 3 levels of priority (Phases). Items whithin each level are random and not in order of importance.

Phase 1
-Find out the deal with Copyright Carsten Niehaus...? How does this affect modifs?
-Add Welcome window description in Chapter 1 after introduction, include a brief list of functions/capabilities. Explain how to add buttons for fast access to preferred functions. Explain tree structure in directory window
-Eliminate dvd ripping/encoding. The procedure has changed. See P2
-Review the Menu Entries Chapter and eliminate only what is not valid anymore. Minor modifs.
-Add missing functions in Howtos with appropriate screenshots. divide by new projects and tools.
--New Projects: 
1 Data CD/DVD: (one common howto)
2 Audio CD: well done I would add explanation/list on which audio files are supported
3 Mixed mode CD:
4 Video CD/DVD: explain what type of files should be used and the direcory structure. Link to other KDE apps capable of creating such files like: Qdvdauthor and Kdvdbackup
5 EMovix: Here I need to find out myself what K3b can do ;)
--Tools:
1 Copy CD/DVD (one common howto) for data disks. Then go in detail for Audio CD and Video DVDs.
Add explanation of the need for libdvdcss and how to install it. Add warning on copyright infringement for all material and mostly for video material.
2 Erase/Format CD/DVD
3 Burning images. Formats supported. Nero .nrg image support almost there. New image format will be available in future k3b. As of now *.iso extension has to be written manually in order for the system to recognise it as cd/dvd image and associate the file with k3b. Mention issue with sectors larger than 2048 bytes (see email).

Phase 2
-Add new procedure on dvd ripping. As of now it is only available in svn version of K3b.
-Add specifics on installation procedures for different distros. I can do for SUSE with detail on extra files needed from Packman etc. Need help on other distros. Explain the missing K3bSetup situation with SUSE RPMs.
-Reduce descriptions in the Menu Entries to reduce verbosity and volume. Simplify. Then see P3
-Add description of the K3bsetup program and the K3b Configuration in "Settings Menu"
-Define what a "project" is in k3b and explain how the user can save projects for later and work with multiple projects.


Phase 3
-Learn DocBook format and start writing in it
-Reorganise manual to focus clearly on functions. Eliminate duplicate verbosity. I am still thinking if I should develop the menu entries and move here the detailed description of functions with screenshots from the howtos or to just make a big list of detailed functions/howtos and leave the menu description at the end of the manual as the info there is a bit more obvious and "common knowledge".
-Maintain the manual with each K3b release. Start working on manual changes as early as the svn version of k3b.
-Add contact name with link to my e-mail to be contacted with problems with the manual
-Add detailed problems in each fuction...and mabe a list of known bugs for that release at the end of the function/howto.