[openbeos] Re: HaikuPedia / One hour challenge

Hi,

looks like an interesting idea. anyway, I'm sure that a Style
Guideline will be needed, to save the Creative Design team of going
insane in two weeks ;-)
I think that this can be done more easyly by using a WikiWikiWeb
system. yeah, I know, they're slow and consume quite a bit of
bandwidth, but they're the best option when doing documentation.

cya!

On 4/20/05, Zenja Solaja <solaja@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> PROBLEM
> 
> Computers are difficult to use.
> 
> SCENARIO
> 
> When Haiku first becomes widely distributable, we can be assured that
> there will be over 1 million enthusiasts who will want to try the Live
> CD / distribution (based on R5PE stats).  These curious individuals
> have already tried one of the many Linux/BSD distributions available
> over the years, and cursed at how difficult said systems were to use,
> and within a hour or two went straight back to Windows (and repeat the
> cycle every 6 months).  The challenge, therefore, is to answer any
> question these potential users may have which will pop up during the
> first hour of usage.  Haiku WILL be different from what these curious
> individuals are used to, so if we can provide a simple '20 top
> questions' guide, we just might take these users over the 1h
> threshold.  They just might continue tinkering with the system for a
> week or so, and (as we all know from personal experience) thats how
> long it will take them to 'get' the system, and fall in love.
> 
> SOLUTION
> 
> We need a HaikuPedia, with 2 sections.  The first section is the
> 'Quick start', which will explain the most common questions a new user
> may have, and the second section is your normal 'user guide'.  The
> HaikuPedia will probably be in HTML format, and it would be great if
> we can integrate it with BeHappy (http://www.bebits.com/app/430) or
> similar for search capabilities.  So what are the most common
> questions newbies will have?
> 
> 1) How do I change screen resolution?
> 2) How do I adjust my sound settings?
> 3) How do I mount my other disks?
> 4) How can I make a program start automatically on powerup?
> 5) How do I kill a misbehaving application?
> 6) How do I search my disk for files?
> 7) In which directory does the 'Desktop' live?
> 8) How do I change system fonts?
> 9) How do I configure networking?
> 10) How can I rearrange all icons to fit a window?
> 11) How do I kill a misbehaving application?
> 12) How can I move my Deskbar?  How can I add items to it?
> 13) Why cant I view thumbnails of images stored on NTFS partition?
> 14) Where can I download applications from?
> 15) How do I install applications?
> 16) How do I remove applications?
> 17) A new driver crashes Haiku - how can I remove it?
> 18) How do I change settings in the boot manager?
> 19) How do I change ALT-C/X/V to CTRL-C/X/V
> 20) Where are my preferences stored?
> 21) What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything else?
> (n) others???
> 
> PROPOSAL
> 
> a) Create a new SVN directory for the HaikuPedia.
> b) Mirror the contents of these files on the Haiku website (online
> documentation).
> c) Provide an email link on the Haiku main page for documentation
> submissions (from volunteers without SVN access), ie.
> submit_docs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> d) Have the Creative Design team modify the style of each submitted
> page so that it adheres to a common standard (style, colour,
> background pattern, fonts, image borders etc).
> e) Invite volunteers to submit pages.  We need to fill the both
> sections of the HaikuPedia.
> f) Distribute the HaikuPedia with Haiku
> ...
> z) The HaikuPedia MUST be fun to read.
> 
> CLOSING COMMENTS
> 
> It takes roughly a week before new users start sending emails to
> hardware manufacturers and big software companies asking for OS
> support.  The bean counters in these companies might ignore 100K
> emails, but they'll definately notice >1M emails.  So the challenge is
> to get these potential users past the 1h hurdle, and closer to the 1
> week hurdle (of course, hooking these users for life is also a worthy
> challenge)
> 
> Signing off.
> 
> 


-- 
BlueSteel | | Merkoth

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