[Kst] kst 2.x documentation update running

[nicolas.brisset at free.fr]

Hi,

I'm happy to announce that Anirudh has volunteered to update kst documentation. Welcome Anirudh!
The corresponding Google Code-In task can be viewed here: http://www.google-melange.com/gci/task/view/google/gci2011/7120229 but I suggest we hold further discussions directly on this list so as to maximize feedback. We have to be reactive, as the task expires after 96 hours (from today 18h28 UTC).

Anirudh, feel free to introduce yourself quickly, I think you are now listening on this list. You don't have to, but if you could tell us a bit about your background it would certainly help us anticipate the problems you may encounter. For instance, it would be nice to know how familiar you are with svn, docbook and HTML, and if you have some experience of plotting tools, Qt, C++ and open-source or if kst if your first contact with open-source development. Another possibly important information is your time zone. The most active people on this list are mostly in Central Europe or North America, so during day in those areas you have the most chances of getting quick answers. Think about it when you're planning your work.

I'm pasting here the last comment I submitted on the Code-In page regarding how I suggest you proceed so that others can be informed and throw in their (good) ideas too.

<quote>
Hi Anirudh,

I'm glad to see that you're still with us! Please modify only the docbook (source documentation), the HTML can be generated easily from there and uploaded on the website, we'll take care of that.

To be honest, I don't know exactly how much you can achieve in 4 days. It would be nice if you managed to remove everything that is obsolete and propose a structure that covers all aspects worth mentioning in a documentation. In a first step, I'd suggest you submit the structure to the mailing list for approval (as a .odt document with chapters and subchapters for instance, it will be faster to review).

For things you don't know just leave it empty, or put a vague description as placeholder and we'll help you. If you still have time left it would be great if you could start including the new screenshots, starting with the most important ones. Ask on the kst list and we'll tell you the priorities.

Good luck!
</quote>

To be a bit more specific, I think the structure of the kst 1.x documentation is OK and I would not start throwing everything around. Only the menus have been reorganized quite a bit, some functions added and others removed. So you will probably have to reorganize some things a bit. To help you, here are from the top of my head the main differences going from kst 1.x to 2.x:
- dropped support (for now) for dcop/dbus bindings
- moved from Javascript-based scripting to python-based, but this is still in development and has its own (preliminary) documentation at http://hen.astro.utoronto.ca/pyKst/, so just include a link
- added extended support for metadata, best seen using netCDF (see screenshots and here: http://kst-plot.kde.org/sample_data/ for some sample data) and corresponding views (View menu) for scalars and strings
- better vector export (SVG/PDF)
- shared axis boxes to allow sharing axes between many plots

Also, I think the kst 1.x documentation didn't mention one of the coolest features of kst: the "Edit multiple..." button which is available in many dialogs and allows changing some properties of a whole series of objects in one go. This should be addressed in the new documentation.


So, good luck Anirudh and don't worry. I don't think you can deliver a 100% finished documentation in 4 days, but getting the task started is already great. It is important that you give regular feedback so that we keep it going in the right direction and make as much progress as realistically possible in 4 days.

Thanks for your efforts, and please don't hesitate to ask here if you have questions. 

Cheers,

Nicolas