[Sussex] Howtos

[Steve 'Dobbo' Dobson]

John

Thanks for the feedback, it was most welcome.

On Fri, May 25, 2007 at 09:35:42PM +0100, John D. wrote:
> Well to start with, clicking your link just gives my a "parent directory"
> page, so will the parents actually know that they have to open the file
> with a word processor ? Or where you aiming to have "it" open as an html
> page ?

I have not put the website together.  Unless we have contributions from 
more than just me I will not.  Things on the SussexLUG site should be a
community effort not just one persons.

I just created the directory so I could place the document there for anyone
(like yourself) to pull rather than attaching it to the e-mail and splattering
it far and wide.

> Ok, so after it'd opened (OOo 2.2 is what I use) I thought it started 
> excellently.
> 
> Some further work might be necessary on the layout i.e. toward the end some
> of the images "fell" in odd places and made some of the text slightly out of 
> position/context

I do not propose distributing the documents in OO form.  I placed the ODF
document up there so that derivative works could be created.  However the
"published" essays I would put in PDF form so the layout was perfect as
I see them here.  I know that OpenOffice does it's best but if the same
fonts aren't installed then pages don't layout correctly.

BTW: The font used is DejaVu Sans Condensed

> not to inadvertently slur your parents abilities,

You couldn't - they are clueless (esp my father).  Compared with them your
an expert.

> but if 
> it were my mother (particularly), she'd want complete explainations of 
> everything in the images (thinking of the one that mentions getting the 
> driver(s) for the camera - /usr/something/something even if it's only a "one 
> liner" saying that thats the name of the file where the driver programme for 
> the camera lives and it's nothing to worry about).

Nowhere in my text do I mention drivers - or installing anything for that 
matter.  The "getting driver" bit is reported by gThumb so it is included 
in the screen short 'cos that's what was there.

I tried hard to remove as all "geek" from the text.  Someone e-mailed me off
list about the essay (so I'll keep their identity secret in case that is what
they want) and pointed out that I hadn't said what distro or software was
being used.  It's a good point, but I don't want to be that technical - it 
would be beyond my parents.  So there either as to be an "Expert Essay" that
details the install of software or that information needs to be on the website.
I'm still thinking about that.

> Is the Howto specific to your parents camera?

Yes.

>                                               or is it your's because my 
> parents would be on the phone asking for directions if it were my camera 
> rather than theres i.e. "but mine doesn't seem to have a switch like the one 
> in the picture......." etc etc.

Good point.  I've added a paragraph asked the reader to refer to their own
camera's manual.

> It may be that I'm accusing my parents (again, specifically my Mother) of 
> being overly finicky. Well yes, she can be (Nurse/Health Visitor prior to 
> retirement).

She is not alone.  A month back there was a problem with the system.  It
locked up - bad disk - but the system couldn't be powered of or reset so 
the kernel must have panicked.  I told them to switch it off at the wall and
I'd look at it next time I was over.

The phone base-station is on the same extension lead and they went without
wireless phones until Mum phoned me again and I said that she could switch
the wall socket back on.  Removing power at the wall was just easier than
getting to the back of the computer to use the switch there.

> Overall, I thinks it's very good 9 out of 10 - the other 1 point being slight 
> refinement IMO.

Which is why I posted it.  With enough eyes all bugs are shallow.

> Damn! I suppose that that means that I'll have to think about contributing 
> something like that - seeing as I know bog all about the technical stuff 
> that "you lot" find intuitive!

Please do.

Thanks for you help.

Steve

-- 
                              Steve "Dobbo" Dobson
                                steve at dobson.org
                               SussexLUG Master
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