[documentation] User guide/better help in D7

[Jennifer Hodgdon]

Steve Kessler wrote:
> I think that is critical that there is some amount of help that ships with
> Drupal. But this could be 2 or 3 sentences and a link to a page. Does the
> research from D7UX tell us anything that we should take into account?

I can't address D7UX in regards to help...

But regarding your other comment, there is already "some amount of 
help" shipping with Drupal. If you think that what we currently have 
in Drupal 7 for help is misleading, not detailed enough, too detailed, 
inadequate, missing information, or otherwise needs to be revised (and 
I'm not saying I would disagree), then NOW is the time to bring it up. 
There is zero chance any help will change in Drupal 6, but Drupal 7 is 
still in development.

I need to say a bit about process here, though: Nothing will get done 
on this if it is not brought up in the right way.

a) Must be specific. A vague "we need more help" idea or "we need a 
user guide" will not be addressed. Specifics such as "This screen 
needs to explain xyz" or "The main Help page needs to state abc" may 
be addressed.

b) Needs a patch: Someone eventually needs to supply not only a 
specific description of the problem, but also a solution (patch), if 
you want the problem to be solved in Drupal.

c) Issue Queue: Both the problem and the solution have to be presented 
in the issue queue, and go through the issue review process, in order 
to make it into Drupal. Discussing it here or in the #drupal-doc IRC 
is fine as a first step, but if it never gets into the Drupal issue 
queue, it will not be incorporated into Drupal.

- Schedule: The development of Drupal happens on a schedule. If it 
requires some major "user experience" change (e.g. major reformatting 
of help text), it needs to happen before December 1st. If it is just a 
matter of adding/changing text that already exists, then there is a 
bit more time, but not a lot (would need to go in before "string freeze").

    --Jennifer

-- 
Jennifer Hodgdon * Poplar ProductivityWare
www.poplarware.com
Drupal, WordPress, and custom Web programming