Ubuntu Wiki

EARLY DRAFT STATUS NOT COMPLETE!

Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.

• Launchpad Entry: N/A

• Packages affected:

Summary

Generally all existing help systems can be defined as online help: "...topic, procedural or reference information delivered through computer software." (Reference: Wikipedia). This can be broken down into the following broad categories:

• Static Help - Static content usually closely tied to the specific application and not dynamically updated via the network. (i.e. Application Help Systems, Operating System Help, ...)

• Dynamic Help - A system with content that may be closely or loosely tied to a specific application that id continually updated via the network. (i.e. KnowledgeBase, Wikis, ...)

• Interactive Help - A system closely or loosely tied to a specific application that facilitates the asking/answering of questions between individuals via the network. (i.e. IRC, forums, ...)

The LifeRing project attempts to provide:

1. A unified interface to integrate multiple help system types.
2. An enhanced interaction between multiple help system types.
3. An information collection system to facilitate and enhance getting interactive help
4. Use the information collection system to triage help
5. Provided a script system to execute solutions for help

Release Note

This section should include a paragraph describing the end-user impact of this change. It is meant to be included in the release notes of the first release in which it is implemented. (Not all of these will actually be included in the release notes, at the release manager's discretion; but writing them is a useful exercise.)

It is mandatory.

Rationale

This should cover the _why_: why is this change being proposed, what justifies it, where we see this justified.

Use Cases

Assumptions

Design

You can have subsections that better describe specific parts of the issue.

Implementation

This section should describe a plan of action (the "how") to implement the changes discussed. Could include subsections like:

UI Changes

Should cover changes required to the UI, or specific UI that is required to implement this

Code Changes

Code changes should include an overview of what needs to change, and in some cases even the specific details.

Migration

Include:

• data migration, if any
• redirects from old URLs to new ones, if any
• how users will be pointed to the new way of doing things, if necessary.

Test/Demo Plan

It's important that we are able to test new features, and demonstrate them to users. Use this section to describe a short plan that anybody can follow that demonstrates the feature is working. This can then be used during CD testing, and to show off after release.

This need not be added or completed until the specification is nearing beta.

Outstanding Issues

This should highlight any issues that should be addressed in further specifications, and not problems with the specification itself; since any specification with problems cannot be approved.

BoF agenda and discussion

Use this section to take notes during the BoF; if you keep it in the approved spec, use it for summarising what was discussed and note any options that were rejected.

CategoryLookMergeDelete