[Gvsig_english] FEEDBACK gvSIG 1.9 (BN 1253) -- use of gvSIG in production environment

[Simon Cropper (Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd)]

Silvio,

As stated I am preparing a range of smaller tutorial based around an 
established workflow. The idea is if the tutorials represent distinct 
tasks and are autonomous that they can be released immediately rather  
than waiting until all have been prepared. Each tutorials is about 10-15 
pages long and I estimate that I will prepare about 15. That is about 
225 pages already and all I am covering are the basics. Once completed 
however I would be able to consolidate the bits into a small book that 
could be downloaded as one entity -- if the user wanted they could print 
this off, although I would hope that most people would keep it as an 
electronic reference book.

Something else that came to mind while I was writing this response was 
the fact that gvSIG does not have any help. Maybe the best option would 
be to create a modular help system similar to the extensions concept 
where documentation can be placed in a designated directory and will 
automatically appear in the dropdown menu when you select 'Help' in the 
main menu. This would allow various people to develop documentation 
regarding button, menu options, etc. In windows these type of files are 
usually hyperlinked CHM files but I suggest the documentation should 
either be HTML or PDF or a combination of both. How hard would it be to 
create a program to troll through a 'documentation directory and its 
subdirectories' and prepare a menu system based on that structure that 
would open the designated file. Anyone could then develop specific 
documentation about various areas they use regularly and it would be 
automatically available for users - they would not have to search the 
web for tutorials, they would all be there already or could be easily 
downloaded as an add-on from your website (just like the extensions are 
at the moment).

Cheers Simon

Simon Cropper
Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020.
P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437.
mailto: scropper at botanicusaustralia.com.au 
<mailto:scropper at botanicusaustralia.com.au>
web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au <http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au>


On 21/01/2010 1:14 AM, silvio grosso wrote:
> Hi Simon,
>
> Simon wrote:
>    
>> The last thing you want  to do is create a hurdle to the use and spread of what is a great program.
>>      
> You are totally right.
>
> In my opinion, this hurdle does not concern gvSIG's Spanish speakers.
> At present, the Spanish community is the most widespread.
> In South-America, gvSIG is also well established.
> At present, they are, probably, the most important "target" for gvSIG's developers.
> For such gvSIG's Spanish users the documentation is just great.
> I would say it is fabulous :-)
> There is already a very good manual for the 1.1.2 version.
> On top of that, there are plenty of videos on YouTube.
>
> I hope I am wrong, but I suppose it will be difficult to get English speakers "volunteers" for writing tutorials for free.
> In this International mailing list there are people coming from everywhere (Germay, Italy, France etc) but only a few English native speakers.
> For Sextante, Victor Olaya, is too busy writing code for his software :-)
> You can't ask Victor to write English tutorials :-)
>
> When you have a software which is a new-comer in its sector, for its developers, it is really important to have all documentation for free.
> Probably, nobody is likely to be willing to pay anything for such a documentation :-)
>
> For most established open-source softwares (Gimp, Scribus, Inkscape, Blender, OpenOffice) there are loads of  tutorials, manuals, videos, which are available for free.
> This being said, in my opinion, but maybe I am totally wrong, often, the best manuals are those available by paying for them.
> This is not always true but, in the end, if such books are not good nobody would buy them!
> On Amazon, for Gimp, Scribus, Inkscape, Blender, OpenOffice etc there are scores of books available.
> Quite probably, their writers are not likely to getting rich by selling them, but, for the end-users, this is not a problem :-)
>
> Downloading tutorials for free is not always the "best" option.
> Even though these tutorials are available and comprehensive you have to:
> 1. Find them on the web and this is sometimes a really time-consuming task.
> 2. You have to download them.
> 3. Print them on paper if you want to get the best out of them.
> 4. Probably, you will end up by grouping all of them in a single entity ("book"), other time-consuming task.
> In the end, in my opinion, for an end-user, buying a book on Amazon or, even better, in you book-shop is the better option.
> Certainly, it is the quicker. Remember: time is money :-)
>
> If you produce a software (e.g. Photoshop), which is the most important in its sector, it goes without saying that many users are likely to buy a book in order to learn its use.
> But, it goes without saying, that they would prefer to have such a book for free :-)
>
> But my question remains, who is the guy willing to write a gvSIG's English book, of  500-600 pages, for free?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Silvio
>
>
>
>
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