[FM Discuss] Thunderbird manual feedback

[adam]

On Tue, 2010-10-12 at 21:57 -0400, Mark wrote:
> Thanks to everyone who replied for the feedback. 
> 
> My goal is a user manual that my 70-something mother-in-law could use.

then make the type big ;)

>  When I looked around the Internet I couldn't find a guide that did
> just that. I found lots of short how-to articles that described
> various setup and usage tasks but nothing that took someone from
> installation to reading an e-mail. So, that's what I tried to write.

i think thats an excellent target audience. but grandmas get pretty
techy pretty quick so dont forget the ldap stuff james mentioned ;)

> 
> I do want a manual that leaves users confident that they can use
> Thunderbird and not scared by the complexity of it. I think it's a
> good idea to make the chapters a bit more (okay, a lot more) friendly
> and less cold. Also, I'll figure out how to add some more technical
> information to it.

all sounds cool. i think you can easily do a manual that starts like
this and then 'ramps up' in later sections to cover more advanced
topics. check the CiviCRM and command line manuals manual as good
examples

> 
> James - I have used Notes and I agree that Thunderbird is much better
> (and Notes' calendar features are really horrible). I didn't envision
> the audience for this manual as people looking to setup and use
> Thunderbird in a work setting in place of Notes or Outlook. Maybe we
> can add this topic as a chapter.
> 
> I am very much looking forward to the sprint and seeing how the manual
> gets better with input from more people. 

:)

adam

> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> Mark
> 
> On 10/11/2010 04:45 PM, Lana Brindley wrote: 
> > On 10/12/2010 06:07 AM, James Simmons wrote: 
> > > Mark, 
> > > 
> > > One gripe I have with your manual is that it doesn't explain
> > > enough. 
> > > For instance, at work I use Thunderbird as an alternative to the
> > > Lotus 
> > > Notes email client.  (If you've ever used Notes you'd know why).
> > > To 
> > > set that up I needed to know about IMAP, LDAP, SMTP servers, and
> > > how 
> > > to figure out what the values are for each.  Your manual doesn't
> > > go 
> > > into that.  It just walks through screen shots telling me stuff
> > > most 
> > > people could figure out on their own. 
> > > 
> > > James Simmons 
> > > 
> > 
> > Hi James, 
> > 
> > I'd say you're getting your audiences confused here. From Mark's
> > email, he's writing a user guide (<quote>we are creating a manual
> > that helps people use Thunderbird for their daily e-mail
> > tasks</quote>). What you want is an administrator's guide. 
> > 
> > Similar, but different ;) 
> > 
> > L 
> > 
> > 
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