The head of documentation for the KDE project has listed a couple FYI points for anyone thinking about doing KDE documentation.
- Docs are strings. When strings are frozen, so are the docs. The dates for string freezes are noted in the release schedule.
- Screenshots are not strings. They are not frozen during the string freeze.
- During string freezes, you can always send patches to kde-doc-english@. They will be applied after kde-i18n is ready, so they will be included in the release tarballs for your application, but they will not be translated until the next point release.
- You do not have to write docs in docbook, if you send plain text content to kde-doc-english@ (or attach it to any open bug reports about your application documentation) we will mark it up for you.
- Documentation should not be optional. Missing documentation is a bug, and may already be filed as such.
- A command/menu reference is considered required for all docs, but it is a bare minimum. Do try to write more useful content if you can.
- There is a questionnaire available to fill in with questions about your application. This can serve two purposes:
- If you are a developer who wants to write your own documentation but you are not sure how to start, the questionnaire will help you clarify the important points that must be covered.
- If you are not able to write documentation, answering the questions will give a good head start to anyone who volunteers to help you out, and will save them a lot of time asking questions, and you a lot of time answering them.
And be sure to check out my desktop image directory. There are some pretty freggin cool screenshots of my KDE 3.4 beta2 desktop. XFree86 is dead, long live X.org!
