[In process of completion] Documentation

[einarsson]

Hi,
I am new to Joom!Fish. In fact pretty new to Joomla! too. But I have 3 HTML sites currently up and running which I would like to re-make in Joomla. All sites are in 3 languages; French, German, English. None of those are dynamic sites but I have an two online-shops which I put up in 3 languages four years ago using osCommerce. That was an easy task and languages are taking care of in one window; you put the English text, then the German and then the French and just upload. Everything is automatic after fairly simple and well explained configuration. osCommerce had a very good documentations available so right from the start one was working within the right solution instead of spending countless hours of figuring things out and read other people problems in a "Forum".
My problem started when I downloaded the Joom!Fish. I have browsed the forum, looked at all documentation and still dont get it together. I have created few Joomla sites locally to excercise on......... this is a hell!

Are there any documentation (pdf, e-book or whatever) available telling how to operate the program AFTER installation? Or are the user just supposed to figur it out piece by piece? I downloaded pdf file and printed out so called: THE JOOM!FISH MANUAL. But that is NO manual at all.

I suppose the question is (before I finally give up and forget about Joomla as a tool for multilanguage site): Is there any written material/instructions out there which can be downloaded for teaching in a proper manner the use of Joom!Fish?

Thank you,
ede

[ivo.apostolov]

1. Joom!Fish 2.0 is still beta (click on the link in my signature for more info)
2. Documentation is available (for versions 1.8.x) for donors
3. I am currently in process of writing the documentation for 2.0

My questions are:
- What exactly do you want to see in the documentation?
- What makes you feel in that way with the current one (I suppose it is the one free available for 1.7)
- Any specific suggestions would be highly appreciated? Like, what you couldn't understand etc. Believe me it is not that easy to guess what is unclear in other people's mind and to be honest - YOU ARE THE FIRST ONE WHO DIRECTLY COMPLAIN ABOUT IT. Don't get it wrong, I am pretty happy with it, as for the moment, I had no input back.

[ivo.apostolov]

Btw. If you want, I can provide you with the documentation for 1.8 just to review it and find what is wrong there as I am really interested in REAL feedback.

[einarsson]

Thanks a lot for your quick reply - I highly appreciate it. Lets make the uncertain points clear:
1. I am a donor (my first donation BEFORE I even downloaded anything)
2. I have newest version of Joomla and Joom!Fish 2.0 Beta.

Sorry if I insulted you, that was not my intentions. I am a teacher in computers applications and have been for last 15 years, my students are from 20 to 35 y.o. So having at all times 20 multinational students in front of me all day every day asking questions which to me is no need to ask......maight made me seing things differently.

What I meant was that for someone not fluent in PHP or SQL there is missing this introduction to the program. A nice 6 - 8 pages PDF which takes an idiot through the process of having a Joomla! site with some data and step by step taking the person through the process of making small menu in 2 or 3 languages as well as few articles linked to those menues. That would take the application to the "user friendly" state which is missing now.

You correctly stated that I am the first person to bring this clearly up. But look at the forum: people are even asking how they can replace the drop-down language menu with flags or letters. Do you think that technical answer will do the job of getting those people happy? I can see that this program could be made very user friendly if there would just be "Getting started" manual with some samples and exercises. And the time saved...........!

After writing my earlier comments, I installed once again Joomla with data and then Joom!Fish 2. Without using any of the million pages I have print outs of from forums or elsewhere I turned that page into 3 language website, starting on translating the top menu and then few articles. And it works! So I am on it........finally. But it took me 10 days of just getting there instead of 1 day with this friendly PDF document I am talking about. I maight write one myself and give it to you when I know a little more . The problem is that there is many documents around but none of them are really dealing with the basics or the whole picture, none of them from A through Z. And the majority of people dont know PHP and just get sick when they have such a code in front of them.
Everything is complex when you dont know anything about it. Nothing is complex when you have the basic knowledge.

As you mention the Manual for 1.8 = I have been trying to find it for days without success. Yesterday I downloaded a new pdf document "test it" I think you called it but Adobe can not open it. So no wonder I was a little
Kind regards,
ede

[ivo.apostolov]

Do you have access to:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=402&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

[einarsson]

No, I get this message:
You are not authorised to read this forum.

Concerning the forum; I first created a username and password which gave me limited access. Then I got e-mail with a new password and using that seams to give me wider access. I am using that now but still get this messages.

The only thing I want at the moment: the latest documentation (Manual) for 1.8. I have read about it but cant find link to download it. Same for the "testfile.pdf". I saved it local but get error message from Adobe that this is not valid Acrobat document. I have the newest version of reader and Adobe Acrobat Professional version 8 so I that is not the problem.

Apart from those minor problem I am finally fine now after managing last night to turn the default Joomla! into multilanguage site. That opened it up for me and the road ahead will be an easy ride. But I stick with what I sad and I hopefully will prepare manual or an ebook for the majority users who just dont know how and where to start and post it here or in whatever forum I am alowed to visit. I was almost given up and I am computer professional. I saw the other day a PDF file, 45 pages for Joomla! called: Joomla! 1.5: Quick Start Guide. Very basic step by step which everyone can follow and get enough training to take it from there. Similar booklet would be great for Joom!Fish and the forum requests would be reduced to bugs and real problems.
Thank you,
ede

[ivo.apostolov]

Hi there,
I know the Joomla! manual. Will try to make the new documentation better.

[ivo.apostolov]

I just posted a basic workflow:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1515
More to come with the full documentation.