For the past few weeks I have been working on a set of Wiki pages aimed at being a "User's Manual", documenting how the SL software works. This is something you get with most software, either in printed form, or built in under the Help menu. For some reason, Second Life never had one.
The information is out there, but it is very hard to find for new people, cause it is scattered over thousands of Knowledge Base & wiki pages, forum messages, and people's experience. People like to learn in different ways, so this is for those who like to have a reference manual to look at.
The areas I particularly need help with are the Tools and Advanced Menus, and adding links to other good pages where they exist already. Once in good enough shape, perhaps people can package it up and pass it around in forms besides the wiki.
The pages that are there now are:
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User%27s_Manual
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User%27s_Manual
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Getting_started_with_Second_Life
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Getting_started_with_Second_Life
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_menu
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_menu
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Advanced_Menu
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Advanced_Menu
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Context_Menu
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Context_Menu
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Inventory_Menu
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Inventory_Menu
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Floating_Windows
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Floating_Windows
We probably need a page on Pop up items (top right blue popups, bottom right popups, warnings, and error messages.
Between them, these would cover all the features of the viewer (I think)
Currently I have written this against version 1.23.4 of the official viewer.
Just think, when this is done, we can tell newbies to "Read the f**king manual" *smile*.
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Please help write the User's Manual |
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DanielRavenNest Noe
Registered User
Join date: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1,076
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08-17-2009 18:16
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Kidd Krasner
Registered User
Join date: 1 Jan 2007
Posts: 1,938
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08-17-2009 18:31
I'd love to. How much does it pay?
Seriously, I'm more than happy to contribute documentation and/or code to volunteer open source projects, but SL is a commercial operation. A sense of community with users is all well and good, but there's something wrong when a business has to rely on volunteer to do things that ought to be done by paid professional staff. |
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Joshooah Lovenkraft
Just Joshin'
Join date: 28 Dec 2007
Posts: 1,376
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08-17-2009 19:20
I'd love to. How much does it pay? Seriously, I'm more than happy to contribute documentation and/or code to volunteer open source projects, but SL is a commercial operation. A sense of community with users is all well and good, but there's something wrong when a business has to rely on volunteer to do things that ought to be done by paid professional staff. Actually, you might be able to get paid for this type of work soon ... https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/support/blog/2009/08/12/help-needed-from-the-second-life-community _____________________
 Hello Avatard - Your Emporium of Fun Stuff In-world: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fordham/178/19/63 Xstreet: https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&MerchantID=103499 |
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DanielRavenNest Noe
Registered User
Join date: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1,076
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08-17-2009 19:36
The Lindens actually do contribute to the Wiki, and I hope they will fill in parts of the manual that only they know about, like the advanced and admin menus.
The way second life is structured, they have a very small Linden staff doing development, compared to say 92,000 at microsoft. And my experience has been that we users actually *use* the software a lot more than they do, so we are better qualified to write the documentation  .The vast majority of content has been contributed by us. They provide the basic tools, and the server farm, and leave a lot of the rest to us. Helping organize a "User's Guide" is just a bit of newbie help from my standpoint, just like New Citizen's Inc and the other newbie places fill in cause the Linden orientation sucks. And I am not entirely altruistic, being able to say I wrote a user's manual may get me work doing training for all those corporate and educational customers they want to get in here. |
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Scylla Rhiadra
Gentle is Human
Join date: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 4,427
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08-17-2009 20:38
The Lindens actually do contribute to the Wiki, and I hope they will fill in parts of the manual that only they know about, like the advanced and admin menus. The way second life is structured, they have a very small Linden staff doing development, compared to say 92,000 at microsoft. And my experience has been that we users actually *use* the software a lot more than they do, so we are better qualified to write the documentation .The vast majority of content has been contributed by us. They provide the basic tools, and the server farm, and leave a lot of the rest to us. Helping organize a "User's Guide" is just a bit of newbie help from my standpoint, just like New Citizen's Inc and the other newbie places fill in cause the Linden orientation sucks. And I am not entirely altruistic, being able to say I wrote a user's manual may get me work doing training for all those corporate and educational customers they want to get in here. I think this is a really great thing you are doing. The current info online is not terribly well put together, and scattered all over the place: noobs in particular have a terrible time finding it. And there's nothing wrong with being altruistic. The Newbie Women's SL Survival Kit is purely nonprofit, and exists because there are some particular issues that face women in SL. I don't see why it or your manual don't count as "user generated content." Not everything in SL need be about L$. (BTW, I look forward to seeing this. If it's as helpful as it sounds, I'll be incorporating a link to it in the Survival Kit) _____________________
Scylla Rhiadra
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Gordon Wendt
404 - User not found
Join date: 10 May 2006
Posts: 1,024
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08-17-2009 22:28
Wow, that's really great work. I'm sure you aren't doing it to get recognized but I hope other residents and the Lindens recognize you for doing this.... Who knows you might even win the Hippo Award
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Rock Vacirca
riches to rags
Join date: 18 Oct 2006
Posts: 1,093
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08-18-2009 06:39
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Dekka Raymaker
thinking very hard
Join date: 4 Feb 2007
Posts: 3,898
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08-18-2009 07:00
It's out of date for sure. |
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DanielRavenNest Noe
Registered User
Join date: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1,076
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08-18-2009 07:23
Printed on paper manuals are *one* way to do it, and that's just fine, but as Dekka points out, they age fast since SL changes so much. The real question is why they didn't incorporate it (or something like it) into online form? Most software includes that in a help menu or downloadable pdf or readme file if it's small. What we actually have are several badly done learning tools. Help > Second Life Help (F1) leads to a Knowledge base section that is almost useless in organization. Help > Tutorial opens a floating window that shows a few very basic things in a non-resizeable window that's too small. Torley's video tutorials are cool and all, but cover whatever shiny attracts his attention, rather than an organized series to show the basics in order. I am not saying the info is missing, it's just very badly organized and hard to find. Even these forums have a wealth of information, but you have to know how to use them. We get the same questions asked again and again, and you cannot insert photos like you can on the wiki. |
