[Gimp-docs] GIMP manual writing in 2009

[Morley Tuttle]

Hi Kolbjorn, and others,

I like Kolbjorn's comments. I think what is at issue is the DB he mentions,
and the desire to protect the document and the harmony of the translations,
while not inhibiting the writers and translators or forcing them to think as
"programmers". I agree an editing team and/or a mechanism which
distinguishes between working and release versions would be helpful. The
capacity of the hosting provider(s) may also be at issue.  The current
discussion seeks to solve previous problems, so we can return to writing and
not mess it up. - Morley

On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 3:58 PM, Kolbjørn Stuestøl <kol-stue at online.no>
wrote:

> Hi all :-)
> This looks to me to be a discussion among programmers or people thinking
> in the programmers way.
> Why not relax and start thinking from scratch, independent of what
> programs and editors etc. are valuable?
> When starting a project I usually put together a list something like this:
> 1. What do we need?
>  a. A database (DB) or similar containing all files necessary to build
> the help files. One DB for every language or one containing them all.
>  b. A program for editing the files in the DB. (On my home computer,
> not directly on the DB).
>  c. A program to automatically build the necessary html/dbf files for
> the end user every time the contents in the DB is changed for a
> particular language (if  the DB files are in another format than html).
> 2. What do we have?
>  a. A DB containing the actual files in xml format. Every language in
> each file.
>  b. Programs to automatically build the html and dbf files for each
> language.
>  c. Some more or less usefully editors.
> 3. What do I wish?
>  a. An editor showing the original language together with my language.
> Also the possibility to read other languages at the same time at my own
> choose.
>  b. I should be able to set the editor to show one line, one paragraph
> or the whole page in each chosen language at will.
>  c. All or most of the necessary codes (tags)  generated by the editor.
> I only have to write the plain text.
>  d. If I'm an author, I also am able to write new original text or
> change it.
>  e. All up- and downloads to/from the DB is done automatically when I
> chose to do so.
>  f. The whole system should be OS independent.
> 4. Find programs to fulfill my wishes.
> (This is of course a very coarse listing, lots of details would be added
> if in real use).
>
> According to this list it seems that the greatest problem at the moment
> is the lack of an editor
>
> This discussions remind me of the start of the computer era: We have
> invented a fantastic machine, what do we use it for?
> Well, I'm not a programmer, only a user. (Although I have written some
> short programs in different languages when needed to). The threshold for
> becoming a writer/author is at the moment too high. The golden question
> is how to lower this threshold? I used unnecessary  amount of time to
> learn how to do this and that before I even was able to do what I want
> to do: translate. (Thanks to you all and especially Julien for leading
> me step by step on the road to understanding).
>
> Perhaps I am out in the wilderness? Perhaps I have misunderstood the
> whole discussion? Perhaps the list is completed without my notice?
> Perhaps I should not sent this mail? Perhaps ...
> Kolbjørn
>
>
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