kicad-doc-devs team mailing list archive

[Marco Ciampa <ciampix@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Nov 27, 2021 at 05:38:54PM -0500, Jon Evans wrote:
> As you might know, there is a chapter in the documentation called Getting
> Started in KiCad [1] which is at this point entirely out of date and does
> not really cover the modern KiCad workflow.  I have seen many people point
> new users at various video series or posts on the user forum as more
> accurate and modern introductory tutorials.
> 
> Since the release of 6.0 is drawing near, we are trying to figure out what
> to do with this chapter.  Right now, I'm just about the only person working
> on updating the documentation for 6.0, and I am focused entirely on the
> "reference manual" portion of the documentation.
> 
> I don't personally believe that the reference manual needs to contain a
> "getting started" chapter in tutorial form, but I'm happy for it to be
> there **as long as it is up to date and correct**.  Since it is not looking
> possible to do that for 6.0, we are currently planning on removing this
> chapter from the website and published documentation.
> 
> So, before we make this call and delete it, I wanted to check: is there
> anyone who is interested in volunteering to write a new version of this
> document, covering the very basics of the modern KiCad workflow using the
> latest nightly builds (pre-6.0)?  I'm happy to assist with formatting and
> gathering images, and we have a volunteer copy editor to make sure the
> writing will fit in stylistically with the rest of the manual.  We just
> need someone who is up for putting in the time to create an outline and
> then write the content for it.
> 
> If nobody volunteers for this, we will remove this chapter before 6.0 is
> released.  We can always add a "getting started" chapter back again in the
> future if someone wants to write it later.
> 
> If you are interested, please contact me directly.  Thanks!
> 
> -Jon
> 
> [1]
> https://docs.kicad.org/master/en/getting_started_in_kicad/getting_started_in_kicad.html

Hi Jon,
Generally I am not against un-publishing outdated & misleading guides,
especially if one can re-add an updated version later. But you have to
un-menu it from the program and actually it is in string-freeze.

I think that a better choice, for the time being, is to add a "program
version reference" and a warning that _some_ information maybe
out-of-date in the documentation source.

The program already uses version information to address to specific
version of the off-line and on-line documentation, and information
referencing to old commands may still be useful for users that are used
to legacy versions that are still orienting themselves through the new
menu/window/command tree.

--

Saluton,
Marco Ciampa