Re: [Paparazzi-devel] Making it easy for new users

[Felix Ruess]

Hi Gerard,

that would be great!

Cheers, Felix

On Sun, Sep 30, 2012 at 1:55 AM, Gerard Toonstra <address@hidden> wrote:

I wouldn't mind lending a hand there, I've got some time on my hands at the moment.
As a newbie into Paparazzi, I'm probably in a good position to provide my personal feedback about the documentation.

Most documents dive straight into the technical details without explaining what the goals are of the document or thinking
about the context in which it should be read. Readers will only find out at the end if the information was relevant for them.
For example, a great way to reformat the documentation is to focus on the application needs, why people choose for some AP
and try to guide them to the relevant bits to find their information very quickly. This list doesn't have to complete and future-proof,
a couple of most general examples is already a great way to let people know what's involved.

The simulation of the GCS is a great way to lure people into how paparazzi works without having access to hardware. Should that
not be on the frontpage like: "interested in learning more?  Download the GCS and play around with it".

The Overview page also needs some work. It dives straight into how the separate components are constructed, which requires the
reader to integrate these together to get a picture of how it works together and which pieces may be optional.


Anyway... as I said, I have some time and ideas on my hand over the coming weeks to assist, if there's agreement on the
format (a table of contents?) of a step-by-step guide for newcomers.  If you want me to, I could supply an initial proposal and
then we discuss that on the list?

Gerard

On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 7:31 AM, Felix Ruess <address@hidden> wrote:

Hi all,

the wish for a step-by-step guide is coming up repeatedly and is definitely what is missing for new users.

It would be really great if someone in the community would take it into his/her hand.

That doesn't mean that it needs to be written solely by that person, we just need someone who will coordinate this a bit

(with hopefully other people helping out) to make sure it's consistent and be persistent enough to see to it that we actually have a finished guide at the end.

Basically don't by shy about editing wiki pages, be concise (also have the courage to actually delete some outdated info or move it to more appropriate pages), be persistent...

If there is something unclear, make a note in the wiki and ask on the list.

Maybe you? Yes, you in front of the screen there ;-)

Different pages were started with intents similar to this, but never finished:

GettingStarted pages, which should be merged into one.

A lot of the information there is also redundant and can be probably removed.

E.g. there is probably no point in duplicating installation instructions, unless you think it really helps.

http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/GettingStarted

http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Getting_Started

http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Lisa/M/Tutorial/FixedWing

I just quickly added some pages to the old http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Documentation_Needed page.

Cheers, Felix

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