Re: GDP: summary and directions, 11 Sep

[Graham Percival]

Trevor Bača wrote:
> That then leaves the question of what to do with the other stuff. What
> about this?
>
>   * Spacing: recast as a separate manual called Page Layout
>   * Input and output: move to Program Usage
>   * Changing defaults: move to Program Reference
>   * Interfaces for programmers: move to Program Reference

Nu-huh, Program Reference is "where angels fear to tread", remember.  :P

> That would then leave the following separate books:

(5 books)
I think that's getting too fragmented.


...
My initial reaction was "no way; we want to make tweaking more friendly, 
not less".  But I had forgotten about the Learning Manual -- that 
clearly shows the beginning of tweaks, and (of course) more work is planned.

Hmmm...

*IF* it were easy to move Changing and Interfaces into the program 
reference, I could almost buy that.  That's a pretty big if, though.


If we renamed the Program Usage book, we _might_ be able to fit Spacing 
and Input in there.  I'm not wild about it, though.  But I definitely 
don't agree with making a separate book for Page Layout.


... ok, what about everybody else?  Think about it for a few minutes 
before responding: my initial reaction was "WTF is Trevor smoking", but 
I'm starting to think he wasn't crazy.

Please remember the following:
- HTML links between documents is cheap and easy.
- introductions belong in the Learning manual.  If you haven't skimmed 
through chapter 5, please do so.  I'm planning on a least doubling the 
material in the LM, so users will have a good idea of how things work by 
the time they finish it.  An extensive "how to read the other books" 
section will be included at the end of the LM.
- we officially have no sympathy for users who haven't read the LM.  :-)


For the record, I'm still opposed to this idea, but it's now a "weak 
reject".  I could be convinced otherwise.

Cheers,
- Graham