Re: Patch for 1.3.151

[Jan Nieuwenhuizen]

Han-Wen Nienhuys <address@hidden> writes:

> I disagree. When I encounter a new program, I start looking at FAQs,
> introductions, readmes, screenshots, etc.

Hmm.  I'd like to have a situation where esp. for new users, but also
for regular users and developers alike, it's easy to spot where the
interesting things are for them.

> The manual is the last thing
> I'd be looking for.

Maybe, but that doesn't imply that it *should* be hard to find.  I
complained about the non-clickable 'Documentation' header that I
always used (if I didn't use a direct bookmark) and now was gone.

Still, I don't find an as easy replacement: I click on 'general info'
now, but it doesn't give me a comfortable feeling of clicking on the
correct link.

> More to the point, many of the questions on the mailing list indicate
> that the manual isn't even read *after* downloading and running lily.

Which could imply that it was not well advertised or attractive.

The problem might be a bit greater.  I agree that with other programs,
you don't start with the manual.  You want to get a quick peek to get
an idea what it's all about, or a quick answer to a problem.  How to
do that with Lily?  The FAQs are messy and ugly, and have no previews.

The reference manual, nah, skip.  The short/longer music examples
would be our equivalent of screen shots, but they don't come together
with handy matching input.  Hopefully, the first part of the tutorial
will be more what a new user would be looking for; maybe we should
advertise some quick start links directly there.  What things *would*
you like to see, if you were to find a new music typesetter?

Maybe part of the problem is our generated website/documentation.
There are currently no nice and easy xrefs from tutorial to first
running, to installation instructions, problems and faqs.

-- 
Jan Nieuwenhuizen <address@hidden> | GNU LilyPond - The music typesetter
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jantien       | http://www.lilypond.org