Ubuntu Wiki

This page contains the notes that were originally posted on the doc-team strategy blueprint page:

What would make a great on-disk + web-based help strategy? - Scope of on-disk help - Integrating on-disk help with web-based help - How to best utilize help.ubuntu.com - Resources needed to meet these needs

How can we reasonably leverage community-based help? - Askubuntu.com data dumps - How much of this integration should be on-disk, vs. how much of it should be on the web.

How can we building Ubuntu as a platform for technical writers - Identify common technical writer deliverables that would be beneficial for the docs team and could attract contributors who are looking for experience in technical communication - Use of Ubuntu Docs Team blog to highlight projects that may be of interest to technical communicators

How can we improve internal workflows to - Imporoving communication for more consistent desktop terminology (Ubuntu button vs. Home button. Top panel vs. Menu bar, etc.) - Use of Ubuntu Docs Team blog for communicating use of some new feature that can make its way into the user help

How can we best present of user help? - For on-disk help, determining the preferred help topic layout / best practices - Graphics and videos for certain tasks - How can we integrate graphics and videos while still being mindful of translations and a11y needs.

Architecting the desktop help for customization and re-use by OEMs

Maybe a sort of "Desktop Integrated Forum", based (maybe) on IRC. It would be a Very accessible button on the desktop, you clic, and you have an IRC window opened with people to answer you.

These people could be : Every Ubuntu user who feel able to help on specials topics.

When the user ask his question, subject is detected, tagged (ubuntu one, libre office....), and some of the peoples who can help with this, get a notification on there desktop, if they are logged. This could be only for very easy tasks. Maybe this "askbox" could be accessible on the Web too.

All of this could be a desktop integrated (and language integrated) version of AskUbuntu. What do you think? It very ambitious, but it would be a big plus in front of others OS.

* The intention of this session is to gather a set of ideas for the docs team to lay out a strategy for next cycle.

* Kyle Nitzsche: great work from the docs team this cycle. Changed from docbook to mallard and gnome3 topics. Quick turnaround at the end to modify that content for ubuntu/unity. Kudos to Jim and the rest of the team for the current momentum in the Ubuntu Documentation Project. Best docs yet (even though not ranslated on release)

• +1 on working to create a much more public strategic plan that can guide decisions, balance tradeoffs

Translations

• - Even before beta release

* User assistance: remote desktop is another way of providing assistance, which hasn't been used so far, but it's non trivial to set up. We've got an opportunity with Ubuntu One to act as the middle man as a remote server

* Some things we could see in the future: runtime detection of desktop type through dbus, so that conditional help can be presented

OMG Ubuntu, webupd8 & AskUbuntu - Almost all of OMG!Ubuntu is copyrighted **

- Even AskUbuntu has CC-BY-SA 3 but has very specific attribution requirements

** Hey, the Natty guide (at http://omgubuntu.co.uk/natty ) is free for the docs team / Ubuntu Manual Project to reuse and modify. It should be licensed under creative commons attribution. If there are any issues with licensing, please email me at humphreybc@ubuntu.com and I'll sort it out (we don't know much about licensing) It needs to be CC-BY-SA 3.0 please

Ah righto, I'll change that ASAP then. I actually thought it was already changed. cool, thanks for sharing it no probs! hope it helps

- xslt validation of style (for example topic must/or must not have description)

Proposed goals

* Make help.ubuntu.com the Ubuntu Documentation Portal

- should become THE portal for access to all help and thriving community with links to other web pages/portals, and needs to be localized or link to the loco's localizations

- locos needs transformation help from their own documentation

* Decide what are the required output formats and what souce format is best to support them via what toolchain

* More automated translation integration workflow

* docs team shall write a style guide that will specify the format/content of each Ubuntu Help Center topic

• - Gnome Docs hasn't figured out a style guide yet for Gnome 3

- user submitted topics with low technical barrier with ubuntu docs editorial board to review and promote the best (ratings?) to core ubuntu help center (on-disk and online)

* Decide upon a strategy about which topics should be on disk, what should be online

* Update Documentation Team wiki documentation to describe mallard and how to get fixes in to the docs webbased mallard editor / doc writing tool ?

* Provide Modularization

- modularization of topics (desktop help? other generic help? remix modules as desired into "books") Localization of text and images at module level