[kde-doc-english] Linking to Support Resources/Changing the Docs Footer

[Burkhard Lück]

Am Mittwoch, 29. Mai 2013, 21:33:26 schrieb T.C. Hollingsworth:
> Hi!
> 
> We currently have the following text in the footer of every doc:
> 
> Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?
> Send feedback to the _KDE Docs Team_ <mailto:kde-doc-english at kde.org>
> 
> I think this is part of the reason why we get so many off topic posts
> to this list.
> 
Probably yes, seems to me users needing help simply click the first available 
link, they do not recognize their and our time.

> I'd like to add a new chapter to the KDE Fundamentals documentation
> that includes two things:
> 
> 1. A list of resources for getting further assistance with KDE,
> linking to the KDE forums, appropriate mailing lists, bugzilla, etc.

That's partly opverlapping with the Online Help docbook?

> 2. A brief overview of how to submit feedback to KDE Documentation
> Team, including this e-mail address
> 
> We could then change the footer in kdelibs.git to read something like this:
> 
> For further assistance using this or any other KDE application, see
> _Getting Help_. <help:/fundamentals/support.html>
> Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?
>  See _Contacting the Documentation Team_.
> <help:/fundamentals/support.html#docs>
> 
That footer text seems to be much too long, it should be much shorter so it 
doesn't occupy much screen space.
But given the behavior of people using the link in the footer we have now 
(either they don't read or understand the text or simply ignore its content) I 
doubt, if it really helps offering two links.

But anyway having more information about support in the fundamentals is an 
excellent idea.

> This will reduce the amount of off-topic chatter we get here and
> provide a much-needed list of support resources in the offline
> documentation.
> 
Thanks for your initiative to reduce this off-topic chatter on this list.

> One other thing I think would be awesome if we do this would be to
> find a way to also provide a way for translators to fill in a section
> of this new chapter that explains how to get support in their
> language.
> 
Yes that would be a good addition.

> Doesn't the translation framework treat <!--TRANS:foo--> type comments
> specially?  Would it be possible to add a
> <!--TRANS:LANGUAGE_SUPPORT_INFO--> comment or some such to the
> relevant chapter in fundamentals, and instruct translators to fill in
> that message with a sectN with useful information for their language.
> 
> For instance, the Spanish translator(s) would translate that message
> to something like this:
> <sectN id="support-lang">
> <title>Obtención de Ayuda en Español</title>
> <para>Para obtener ayuda para usar las aplicaciones de &kde; en
> español, por favor escriba <ulink
> url="mailto:general at kde-espana.es">general at kde-espana.es</ulink> a
> través de correo electrónico.</para>
> </sectN>
> 
> This would of course be optional, and if translators don't want to/are
> unable to because such resources don't exist no section like this will
> appear.  (This also would prevent a "Getting Help in English" section,
> which doesn't make much sense.)
> 
Technically this should work, but tosky of course will know better.

> If that won't work, is there another way we could achieve this?
> 
Not really, we will have to accept, that there will be a certain amount of off-
topic mails on this as on any other list.

Thanks

-- 
Burkhard Lück