Recently, several newbies had trouble finding the FAQ and were surprised to hear that it could be helpful. Perhaps if our packages added a "Wine FAQ" menu item, they'd have less trouble finding it.
Here's a patch to add that to the Debian / Ubuntu packages. What do people think?
--- /dev/null 2008-05-31 06:33:17.000000000 -0700 +++ debian/wine-faq.desktop 2008-07-22 00:06:29.000000000 -0700 @@ -0,0 +1,8 @@ +[Desktop Entry] +Name=Wine FAQ +Comment=Frequently Asked Questions about Wine (and their answers) +Exec=xdg-open http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ +Terminal=false +Type=Application +Icon=gnome-help +Categories=Wine; --- debian/rules.orig 2008-07-22 00:11:37.000000000 -0700 +++ debian/rules 2008-07-22 00:12:32.000000000 -0700 @@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-notepad.desktop $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/applications/ cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-browsedrive.desktop $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/applications/ cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-winecfg.desktop $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/applications/ + cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-faq.desktop $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/applications/
mkdir -p $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/desktop-directories/ cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-wine.directory $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/desktop-directories/
Dan Kegel wrote:
Recently, several newbies had trouble finding the FAQ and were surprised to hear that it could be helpful. Perhaps if our packages added a "Wine FAQ" menu item, they'd have less trouble finding it.
Here's a patch to add that to the Debian / Ubuntu packages. What do people think?
--- /dev/null 2008-05-31 06:33:17.000000000 -0700 +++ debian/wine-faq.desktop 2008-07-22 00:06:29.000000000 -0700 @@ -0,0 +1,8 @@ +[Desktop Entry] +Name=Wine FAQ +Comment=Frequently Asked Questions about Wine (and their answers) +Exec=xdg-open http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ +Terminal=false +Type=Application +Icon=gnome-help +Categories=Wine; --- debian/rules.orig 2008-07-22 00:11:37.000000000 -0700 +++ debian/rules 2008-07-22 00:12:32.000000000 -0700 @@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-notepad.desktop $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/applications/ cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-browsedrive.desktop $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/applications/ cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-winecfg.desktop $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/applications/
- cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-faq.desktop
$(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/applications/
mkdir -p $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/desktop-directories/ cp -f $(CURDIR)/debian/wine-wine.directory $(CURDIR)/debian/tmp/usr/share/desktop-directories/
I have a few reservations.
The FAQ is english only, it's a web site (unlike all other documentation), and it contains a lot of unrelated information like stuff for newer versions or other distros.
Ideally, of course, users shouldn't have to read anything before being able to use Wine. For Intrepid I'm working on cutting down on as much of the non-obvious stuff as possible (for instance you'll be able to double click on .msi files now that I've added an entry for them in shared-mime-info).
As an alternative, I suggest that near release time we consider forking the FAQ, trimming all the unrelated stuff, polishing it up a bit, and bundling that as proper documentation (including being indexed by scrollkeeper and friends).
Additionally, there are some other documents we should update first and have them point to the Wine FAQ, most notably the pages on Wine in the Ubuntu Wiki and the sticky threads at the top of the Ubuntu Wine forum. Which reminds me, I still don't have moderator rights there...
Thanks, Scott Ritchie
On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 3:11 AM, Scott Ritchie scott@open-vote.org wrote:
Recently, several newbies had trouble finding the FAQ and were surprised to hear that it could be helpful. Perhaps if our packages added a "Wine FAQ" menu item, they'd have less trouble finding it.
The FAQ is english only,
We could start translated versions. I think nobody's tried yet because it's intimidating. (I had one offer to translate it into spanish, not sure where that is.)
it's a web site (unlike all other documentation),
Well, sure. That's so users can edit it.
and it contains a lot of unrelated information like stuff for newer versions or other distros.
I just looked, and I don't see a lot. (Mainly the two Apple entries.) That seems ok to me.
Ideally, of course, users shouldn't have to read anything before being able to use Wine.
Of course. But there will always be questions like "How do I run the apps I had installed in XP without reinstalling them?", and for those, we need to point the user to some documentation.
As an alternative, I suggest that near release time we consider forking the FAQ, trimming all the unrelated stuff, polishing it up a bit, and bundling that as proper documentation (including being indexed by scrollkeeper and friends).
That might be nice, but it's a heck of a lot of work, and the FAQ link is something that would be useful now.
Additionally, there are some other documents we should update first and have them point to the Wine FAQ, most notably the pages on Wine in the Ubuntu Wiki and the sticky threads at the top of the Ubuntu Wine forum.
Why should we wait for that? - Dan
Dan Kegel wrote:
On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 3:11 AM, Scott Ritchie scott@open-vote.org wrote:
Recently, several newbies had trouble finding the FAQ and were surprised to hear that it could be helpful. Perhaps if our packages added a "Wine FAQ" menu item, they'd have less trouble finding it.
The FAQ is english only,
We could start translated versions. I think nobody's tried yet because it's intimidating. (I had one offer to translate it into spanish, not sure where that is.)
it's a web site (unlike all other documentation),
Well, sure. That's so users can edit it.
Obviously, and that's a good thing. But what I'm worried about is consistency - no where else that I'm aware of in Ubuntu does help point you to a web resource, even though there's tons out there.
and it contains a lot of unrelated information like stuff for newer versions or other distros.
I just looked, and I don't see a lot. (Mainly the two Apple entries.) That seems ok to me.
Ideally, of course, users shouldn't have to read anything before being able to use Wine.
Of course. But there will always be questions like "How do I run the apps I had installed in XP without reinstalling them?", and for those, we need to point the user to some documentation.
As an alternative, I suggest that near release time we consider forking the FAQ, trimming all the unrelated stuff, polishing it up a bit, and bundling that as proper documentation (including being indexed by scrollkeeper and friends).
That might be nice, but it's a heck of a lot of work, and the FAQ link is something that would be useful now.
Additionally, there are some other documents we should update first and have them point to the Wine FAQ, most notably the pages on Wine in the Ubuntu Wiki and the sticky threads at the top of the Ubuntu Wine forum.
Why should we wait for that?
- Dan
Well, this update (or something like it) isn't going to happen for another 3 months until Intrepid comes out anyway; users of the budgetdedicated.com packages are already browsing the Wine website, where the FAQ already is (though perhaps it could be pointed to on the download-deb page).
So, we have a bit of time to do this right.
Thanks, Scott Ritchie
-
Dan Kegel -
Scott Ritchie