Re: Why do so many newcomers post to bug-lilypond?

[Francisco Vila]

2008/11/3 Graham Percival <address@hidden>:
> - The problem is not explaining how to use lilypond.  We have the
>  tutorial for that.  If the tutorial isn't clear, improve the
>  tutorial.

I still advocate for a not-so-serious resource from users to users.

> - 95% of the people who post "where r teh buttonz" will never even
>  try to use lilypond once they realize that they can't do things
>  with a mouse, so don't bother trying to explain it to them.
>
> - the remaining 5% can use lilypond perfectly well after reading
>  the docs.

I still know about another 5% that will use it if they survive to the
first hour, before reading the docs. But among others, first
impression needs to improve, remember the bugs of
Welcome_to_lilypond.ly ?

> - new users neither know, nor care, about the tuxfamily wiki.
>  However, it's still useful to have a webpage that you can point
>  people to.  But they won't discover this page on their own.

Definitely!

> What's the real solution to this?
> - when lilypond is run for the first time on windows or OSX, it
>  pops up a box that says something like "You must read the docs".
>  Or maybe slightly longer, like "To use LilyPond, you must write
>  text files which define the music.  To learn how to do this,
>  read the docs."  Maybe with a clickable URL in there.
>  No, wait; that would require an internet connection.  Dump a
>  copy of the relevant tutorial pages (HTML and/or pdf) with the
>  installer.

I propose to put a README.txt on the Desktop which we can say new
users to read. It should include the FAQ, at very least.

> Of course, this requires screwing around with the windows GUI
> code, which 1) isn't in the normal git source, 2) is a pain, and
> 3) requires people to care about windows.

I do not volunteer, but I sent a patch against Spanish resources of
lilypad.exe. I'm CCing to -devel.
-- 
Francisco Vila. Badajoz (Spain)
http://www.paconet.org