What To Put In Online Manual?
- Thread starter skeezix
- Start date
I have a couple of thoughts or suggestions.
The first is to make the manual relatively vague, since specific elements of the OS may change over time. It should be sufficient to refer the user to the "Look and Feel," desktop, and screensaver control panels et al. for personalization options. But anything actually in those control panels should be pretty self-explanatory.
Second, things relatively specific to the Pandora should be addressed in a general, explanatory way. Pandora specific elements might be anything having to do with the gaming controls, hot swapping SD card slots, PND file type, the headphone/mic port, the LED lights, the battery and its idiosyncrasies (like how putting the battery in turns the device on), etc.
Third, the manual should be in HTML instead of PDF format, so that it can be easily updated over time, maybe with OS updates. Kind of like the iPhone's user guide is in HTML.
I kind of feel that if there is a single officially supported OS, that only that OS needs to be in the manual. Anyone who is installing another OS can rely on their own knowledge or the forums for other information.
The first is to make the manual relatively vague, since specific elements of the OS may change over time. It should be sufficient to refer the user to the "Look and Feel," desktop, and screensaver control panels et al. for personalization options. But anything actually in those control panels should be pretty self-explanatory.
Second, things relatively specific to the Pandora should be addressed in a general, explanatory way. Pandora specific elements might be anything having to do with the gaming controls, hot swapping SD card slots, PND file type, the headphone/mic port, the LED lights, the battery and its idiosyncrasies (like how putting the battery in turns the device on), etc.
Third, the manual should be in HTML instead of PDF format, so that it can be easily updated over time, maybe with OS updates. Kind of like the iPhone's user guide is in HTML.
I kind of feel that if there is a single officially supported OS, that only that OS needs to be in the manual. Anyone who is installing another OS can rely on their own knowledge or the forums for other information.
dflemstr
It's a ball.
The manual is on the Pandora Wiki:
http://pandorawiki.org/User_manual
...so no HTML needed; everyone can edit it already. I might write a script that generates a PDF out of that site periodically, but most editing will always happen in the Wiki.
http://pandorawiki.org/User_manual
...so no HTML needed; everyone can edit it already. I might write a script that generates a PDF out of that site periodically, but most editing will always happen in the Wiki.
gruso
thunderbox
I think it should be made clear that it's a community written manual. These parts imply that OP Ltd has written the manual:
Even if we're 100% correct on the details, speaking for them / "as" them could lead to confusion. I could just jump in and change it, but I thought it was worth running it past people first. Suggested change:
dflemstr
It's a ball.
borgqueenx has assumed the role of OpenPandora Ltd. it seems. We should really get him a psychiatrist so that someone can diagnostisize his schizofrenia.
mali
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I don't know the accurate difference between a button and a switch in English, but I _think_ I know what you mean. The Pandora mechanism is a sideways sliding button. It slides back when you release it, so technically it is a button that has to be slid sideways instead of pushed in, but it's not a switch.
Vorporeal
Yes, no, I, this is.
I'm pretty sure it's still called a switch (I'm a native American English speaker, by the way).
mali
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Ok, I stand corrected then. In German it would be called "Taster" vs "Schalter".
hobbyman II
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tis a switch!, you press a button, a switch slides or toggles (like those after market switches you get in car spare shops), buttons go in/out, switches move from side to side, you may be confusing them with the FUNCTION of switching, a button can switch something, but remains a button, ie power button switches power on on my laptop, a switch could do the same thing, but it would be called a switch since it moves in a different way (just to be clear)
dflemstr
It's a ball.
I'll say it's a lever, just to shut you both uphobbyman II said:
Last edited by a moderator:
mali
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In German it would still be called "Taster", because the name is defined by function and not by the direction it is moved. Besides other things I'm also an electrical engineering guy(didn't finish study, though), so bear with my nitpicking It seems that the English words "button" and "switch" are more consumer terms than technical terms.
It seems that the English words "button" and "switch" are more consumer terms than technical terms.hobbyman II
Member
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http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Button
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/switch
not very helpful, they muddle the function of switching with the device, but you have the term push-button, not slide-button, and the phrase "flipped (or slid) a switch", but then you have the (infrequent) but still fairly common, "pushed a switch" (same as "pushed a button"), seems the definition is getting a little blurred in it's distinction, but imo buttons go in/out, switches go side to side.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/switch
not very helpful, they muddle the function of switching with the device, but you have the term push-button, not slide-button, and the phrase "flipped (or slid) a switch", but then you have the (infrequent) but still fairly common, "pushed a switch" (same as "pushed a button"), seems the definition is getting a little blurred in it's distinction, but imo buttons go in/out, switches go side to side.
mali
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Thanks, Hobbyman
I read a bit further. The best term would be momentary switch, I suppose.
/end nitpicking
I read a bit further. The best term would be momentary switch, I suppose.
/end nitpicking
WizardStan
Mega GP Mania
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- 16,731
My dad got a new monitor for Christmas. It doesn't have any mechanical way of turning it on, just this weird touch pad thing. Is it a button or a switch or something else entirely?
Why should we care? That's easy: what do you call those squares on the screen that you click (or in some cases, tap) on?
Why should we care? That's easy: what do you call those squares on the screen that you click (or in some cases, tap) on?
Chip
[Insert Custom Title Here]
All buttons are switches, but not all switches are buttons. The slider is a type of momentary-contact switch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switch
hobbyman II
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ah! you are obviously too young to remember mechanical push button tuners, they where either a condenser with mechanical settings or a resistor that slid from position to position, no switch
touchpads are touchpads, a beast unto themselves, in the 70/80[sup]s[/sup] tv tuners had their precursor, the touch tuner, as a trendy alternative to buttons, only trouble was the tv would change channel when a fly landed on the tuner strip (attracted by the channel led no doubt) or they played up when you didn't clean em properly or with the wrong stuff, then we had ultrasonic remotes that used tones to toggle funtions (think of thin walled houses/apartments and people having sets of the same make next door :lol: )
the zx81 touch insensitive keyboard was yet another short lived gizmo, but still used on some weatherproof keypads or cheap gadgets ( afaik), geeze, I do ramble on..... :lol:
droneb
Well-Known Member
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- Aug 28, 2009
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XD, so little to rant about that we started an argue bout buttons?
here's my bullet.
Buttons are a subset of switches specially called because of their resemblance of the round ones used in wearables.
but now a days since the buildup of the needs we can find em squared, mushroom and all sorts of figures. (either electronics or the wearable ones.)
now into electronics buttons split up into 2 major Characteristic.
Pole Action:
*Usually Off Most common ones that only conduct when pressed.
*Usually On used sometimes when you need to cut when pushed.
*Stable State(s) they act up mostly like retractable pen. (example: emergency mushrooms)
Track model:
*Single track: used only to deliver or not to deliver a connection (1/Z)signal.
*Conmutative Track: these are those with multiple leads (at least 3 but usually 4 or +) and they invert the signal provided (0/1/.../n)signal. Most common ones in th models.
all these can be easilly called using the switch type notation (*P*T) *Pole*Track.
here's my bullet.
Buttons are a subset of switches specially called because of their resemblance of the round ones used in wearables.
but now a days since the buildup of the needs we can find em squared, mushroom and all sorts of figures. (either electronics or the wearable ones.)
now into electronics buttons split up into 2 major Characteristic.
Pole Action:
*Usually Off Most common ones that only conduct when pressed.
*Usually On used sometimes when you need to cut when pushed.
*Stable State(s) they act up mostly like retractable pen. (example: emergency mushrooms)
Track model:
*Single track: used only to deliver or not to deliver a connection (1/Z)signal.
*Conmutative Track: these are those with multiple leads (at least 3 but usually 4 or +) and they invert the signal provided (0/1/.../n)signal. Most common ones in th models.
all these can be easilly called using the switch type notation (*P*T) *Pole*Track.
iprice
Certified Guru
Remember them well! When I was but a sprout, my family had a tv that everytime you jingled any spare change it would turn itself over/off/increase or decrease the volume! Oh how amusing we found that...
Near_Kstor
Member
Off the button/switch discussion...
... Are we having multi-language manual?
If that's the case, I'd like to provide portuguese translation (surely someone more skilled could write a spanish version, since that's not my birth language...)
... Are we having multi-language manual?
If that's the case, I'd like to provide portuguese translation (surely someone more skilled could write a spanish version, since that's not my birth language...)
