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FirefoxSummit/2006/WhitherHelpDocumentation: Difference between revisions
FirefoxSummit/2006/WhitherHelpDocumentation (view source)
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Help docs were originally a nice-to-have for Firefox; they only appeared because a small group of people made the effort to see them happen. Localizers weren't even required to localize help for Firefox 1.0. Over time this has changed, and 1.5 and 2.0 both included help as a required part of a localization (although the locale is free to write its own if it wishes). | Help docs were originally a nice-to-have for Firefox; they only appeared because a small group of people made the effort to see them happen. Localizers weren't even required to localize help for Firefox 1.0. Over time this has changed, and 1.5 and 2.0 both included help as a required part of a localization (although the locale is free to write its own if it wishes). | ||
However, help is still a world unto itself. Help documentation is not subject to l10n freezes, be they slushy or not, generally up until some ill-defined "last minute". Firefox 2 beta | However, help is still a world unto itself. Help documentation is not subject to l10n freezes, be they slushy or not, generally up until some ill-defined "last minute". Firefox 2 beta 1 was released with [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=344312 completely broken Help in ~20 locales] (the un-updatedness of Help was used as an excuse to actually make releases for the affected languages). The final help changes for en-US occurred late enough that localizers couldn't fix them for Firefox 2 RC1, and they only were able to make those changes because an RC2 had to be made. | ||
Clearly, the current way of doing things doesn't work. Is it fixable without major changes? Perhaps (recall that perfect is the enemy of good). Do we need more people writing help? Yes (at least until I finish college ;-) ). What can be done to solve these problems? We'll be brainstorming solutions to these problems at this session. | Clearly, the current way of doing things doesn't work. Is it fixable without major changes? Perhaps (recall that perfect is the enemy of good). Do we need more people writing help? Yes (at least until I finish college ;-) ). What can be done to solve these problems? We'll be brainstorming solutions to these problems at this session. | ||