[documentation] Babies, Spoons, Food and Funny Faces

[Dries Buytaert]

> Ditto. Thanks to Themacgeek for expressing interest in this and you  
> are so right, Gunnar. Good training materials would be a big plus.  
> The problem, though, is that there is a limit to what one can  
> accomplish with generalized training videos (and other  
> documentation as well). Drupal has so many possiblities for  
> configuring and setting up a site that as one moves past the base  
> installation and few basic settings, the documentation/training  
> system would grow exponentially in size/quantity.

While that is true, there are many aspects that 90% of the users need  
or want to do regardless of their site's profile or purpose.   
Examples include:

1. Installing the Drupal database scheme and creating the first user  
account.
2. Setting up an about page.
3. Setting up a contact page.
4. Creating a navigation menu/structure.
5. Adding one or more roles and configuring their permissions (eg.  
allowing some users to create content, allowing some users to access  
content).
6. Setting a mission statement and slogan.
7. Installing a new or different theme.
8. Setting a block in the side bar.
9. Figuring out the difference between 'story' and 'page' (and  
grokking the node system).
10. Configuring cron.

All of these steps (and more) could be documented using short  
training videos.

Earlier this week I was approached by a friend.  He spent an  
afternoon installing Drupal and creating some test nodes.  You'd be  
surprised to learn how many basic questions he still had despite the  
fact he is a technical person.  I spent approximately 2 hours  
explaining him some of the above.  It didn't really matter what kind  
of site/profile he is targeting.  Currently, it takes people a day or  
two to getthe basics under the belt.

He figured out some of the stuff mentioned above, but he didn't feel  
confident about it.  He kept asking: "Was that the correct way to do  
it?  Did I do that right?".  That's a fairly important observation,  
no?  Having videos or screenshots could have given him more  
confidence.  If it doesn't feel right, you won't get excited about it  
either.  Confidence is a pretty important ingredient.

--
Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/