ReNamer: Making of new manual

krtek · 2009-08-24 16:13

Brushed up.

I've added an Analyze window article to the Appendices. I think it's quite important feature to have its own article. I'm not very inventive today so I mostly used your text, narayan.
Maybe we should rewrite the "Analyze sample text" section from the ReNamer:Menus for the Files pane#Options menu to make it shorter and to link to that article.
What do you think?

narayan · 2009-08-24 16:45

***Had a 5-minutes blackout (MySQL error) with this site.***

Sure!

To avoid haphazard growth, we should revisit the index.
Currently there are only two levels (see http://www.den4b.com/wiki/ReNamer).

But these "details" pages will form a third level.

We can scan all the Level-2 pages and identify the topics which can be expanded.
Then the L2 page will have only the basic description and a link to L3 page.

Are the recently added pages on column-sorting and file-ordering such L3 pages??

Last edited by narayan (2009-08-24 16:55)

krtek · 2009-08-24 17:24

Ordering and sorting might stay where it is or go as a third level under the Adding files and folders (but then the title starting with Adding won't be appropriate).

Also I've revisited my thought about Analyze window and moved it from Appendices to the main index.

I think that maybe we should move to the main body also:
# Program settings
# Menus
## Main Menu and keyboard shortcuts
## Menus for the Files pane
## Context menus
as these are not appendices for me.

narayan · 2009-08-24 18:52

No I think the current structure is correct.

Actually the main manual should contain a streamlined description of the core work (renaming), starting from the moment the user downloads the ReNamer file, and leading him systematically till he masters the renaming.

The sole purpose of having appendices is to make this part lean, so the user does not get distracted.

Therefore everything else (the gory details) go in the appendices.
* Lists (e.g. menus, context menus, hot keys, meta tags)
* Supporting knowledge (e.g. pascal script)
* Finer obscure aspects of any operation (Things which only pundits want to know)

********

The only thing missing in this linear flow is-
1. how to download, install and uninstall ReNamer.
2. How to set ReNamer when a user starts ReNamer for the very first time.

Last edited by narayan (2009-08-24 18:53)

krtek · 2009-08-24 19:24

I see the point, but there is one tiny problem.
Menus for the Files pane
These are set of very useful tools that most users not notice.
And then we have suggestions about things that are already there. But not in the main menu.

I would really like to see it as a part of the main course of practising the program.

1. how to download, install and uninstall ReNamer.
2. How to set ReNamer when a user starts ReNamer for the very first time.

I'm not sure if it's necessary. I've got that feeling that if someone can't download and install ReNamer (which is as straitforward as it can be) then probably he/she is not ready yet to play with the software (may do some harm to his/her file system) or maybe (more precise) he/she has no need to use such software.
But feel free to fill that gap.

Last edited by krtek (2009-08-24 19:34)

narayan · 2009-08-25 02:53

Of course I agree. That's why I did not add those points so far!
That kind of unnecessary explaining will make the reader stop reading the manual!

(I mentioned them only as a technical gap.)

Can you outline the proposed new narrative? It should not get bogged down in a part of the GUI. Otherwise the user would be stuck with a detail even before he gets the basic idea.

Denis, can we have "insets" (also called "box"), as in books? Then we can place additional tips and finer discussions right next to a point. But the difference in font+background will alert the user that this part is a little different; so he can stick with the main narrative.

Typically, an inset will start with a short title (such as "Tip", "Note", "Warning", "Caution", etc.) and also an icon that matches the title (e.g. a "note" inset will have a notepad or a pencil icon; a warning inset will have a yellow triangle with exclamation mark; a tip icon will have a bulb icon).

The inset rectangles can be full-width, half-width or 1/3rd width.
I will make all the icons (see my manual on xplorer2 for examples)

Last edited by narayan (2009-08-25 02:55)

krtek · 2009-08-25 11:58

Can you outline the proposed new narrative?

I haven't reached that far yet
For now I'm browsing through rules.

When I get the idea, I'll let you know.

krtek · 2009-08-27 10:05

I've just went through Program settings appendice. I've managed to check the main manual so far (apart from Rearrange rule).

Denis, what are the exact dangers of using Real-Time Preview?

I came up with one: that you can press ReName button, and then you really get a mess.
Are there any other dangers?

Maybe it would be a good idea to disable ReName button during Real-Time Preview (and change Preview button to Stop Preview...)?

krtek · 2009-08-29 15:47

narayan,
Could you explain that bolded fragment from Editing ReNamer:Ordering files:

Most common question here is: "I have my files organized in Windows Explorer. How do I transfer this order to ReNamer?". The answer is in (A). You have to select your files in the same order as you have organized them in Windows Explorer, starting from the first one and ending the selection with the last one, and supply this order to ReNamer.

BTW, I finally got the idea of

Cleanup filenames from/for commonly used naming conventions for Internet, peer-to-peer networks, and other resources.

text. It makes sense. It's even more often that you got the file FROM Internet and you have to transfer it into some nice looking way. I took it back to its oryginals.

So far I've checked everything except RegEx and PascalScript appendices and the Rearrange rule.

I don't understand the Ordering files article, but I've started that post with it.

Last edited by krtek (2009-08-29 15:57)

narayan · 2009-08-29 19:00

Actually I have not written that page, so I will have to check out its logic first.

It looks like a level-3 page (a subtopic of Adding files and folders topic).

And rather than answers, I have my own questions (doubts) about what is written there:

Most common question here is: "I have my files organized in Windows Explorer. How do I transfer this order to ReNamer?". The answer is in (A). You have to select your files in the same order as you have organized them in Windows Explorer, starting from the first one and ending the selection with the last one, and supply this order to ReNamer.

I guess (A) refers to command-line mode (because only that has "parameters", and "order of parameters").

Files can be dropped from explorer (or equivalent applications, such as xplorer2). In that case, the sorting order in the source application would be irrelevant, because when the files are dropped in the Files pane of ReNamer, they would be sorted again, based on which column is active in the pane. (Only when the sorting is turned off in ReNamer would the original order be maintained).

drag the selection by the very first file, otherwise the order of parameters will be modified by Windows Explorer!

Well, when several items are selected in Explorer, we cannot choose which item to drag by.
The entire selection is a single block, and is not "touch-sensitive".

Does it mean "keep the focus on the first item in the list"?

In case of drag-and-drop, you need to select all your files starting from first and down to the last

Does this mean that we cannot select non-contiguous items (otherwise the order as appears in Explorer will not be maintained in ReNamer)?

Last edited by narayan (2009-08-29 19:04)

den4b Forum

#101 2009-08-24 16:13

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#102 2009-08-24 16:45

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#103 2009-08-24 17:24

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#104 2009-08-24 18:52

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#105 2009-08-24 19:24

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#106 2009-08-25 02:53

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#107 2009-08-25 11:58

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#108 2009-08-27 10:05

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#109 2009-08-29 15:47

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

#110 2009-08-29 19:00

Re: ReNamer: Making of new manual

Board footer