Ubuntu Help

This is a suggested outline for Ubuntu Help, the help that appears when someone chooses "Help" from Ubuntu's top-level menus. The help should be aimed at people who already have Ubuntu installed, and need answers fast. They may be complete beginners, businesspeople on a deadline, or harried sysadmins. They may not even have a working Internet connection. The system should integrate help from gnome.org, ubuntu.com, openoffice.org, and anywhere else, because Aunt Tillie doesn't care about those distinctions.

Style guide

People [http://helpware.net/longhorn/review1b.htm#TOC_Index_Search don't read help tables of contents] if they can search instead. So when search is implemented in the help viewer, the main table of contents should be simplified to four or five things that people can glance at while entering their search terms. Until then, it should contain no more than about a dozen subtopics. Local help is faster than the Web, so you can get away with having less on each page, and thereby avoid scrolling. Design for compact layout, so the help viewer can go alongside the software you're wanting help on. Brevity, brevity, brevity.

Ubuntu Help

• If you're new to Ubuntu 5.10
• Customizing settings
• Internet and networking
• Working with files from Windows
• Documents, files, and folders
• Disks and devices
• Music, photos, and video
• Printing and faxing
• Keeping your computer safe
• Maintenance and troubleshooting
• Advanced topics
• Getting more help

If you're new to Ubuntu 5.10

• What is Ubuntu?
• If you've been using Ubuntu 5.04
• If you've been using Ubuntu 4.10
• If you've been using Microsoft Windows
• If you've been using Mac OS X

Customizing settings

• Changing the background picture
• Choosing a screensaver
• Saving power
• Accessibility options
• Keyboard layout
• Setting the date and time
• ...

Internet and networking

• Connecting to the Internet
• Finding things on the Web
• Sending and receiving e-mail
• Chatting online
• Connecting to a Windows network
• Sharing files
• ...

Disks and Devices

• Using a digital camera
• Connecting a portable music player

Music, photos, and video

• Listening to music
• How do I play MP3 files?
• Copying music from CD to the computer
• Copying music from the computer to CD
• Playing videos
• ...

=== Printing and Scanning===

• How to set up a printer
• If printing doesn't work
• If printing works, but not the way you want
• How to set up a scanner
• If scanning doesn't work

Keeping your computer safe

• Use separate accounts for each person
• Keep your software up to date
• Set up a firewall
• ...

Maintenance and troubleshooting

• Sound doesn't work
• Programs keep disappearing or crashing
• My desktop icons have disappeared
• A computer has a blank screen
• A computer is frozen or running very slowly

Advanced topics

• Using the terminal
• Terminal commands reference ("man pages")
• Setting up a file server
• Setting up a print server
• Writing your own programs
• ...