Wiki/User-Manual topics and format

[jesselks]

Does anyone have a Wiki or online User Manual that they love, frequently use, or think would be a good model for us to follow?

What is difficult (or was the first time) to do with PB (and thus should be covered in the manual)?

What is the typical audience? I assume pianists, music students and teachers. But I imagine also basic computer competence (e.g. "Install this file(.exe,.deb/rpm,.pkg)" and "Ctrl-o to open the midi file" are enough instruction.)

What does everyone think of the following set of topics for the PianoBooster Wiki and User Manual?

Especially good feedback would include a different way of organizing these two so we can settle on a format that makes sense to the most people and not get stuck too early on what "works" for just one of us.

___Possible Wiki Outline___

'what is PB' page: aka "Getting Started" and "1-page quick intro"
        playing along with a midi file; annimated gif: keyboard w/ fingers; screen w/ notes
        liveusb?, plug in keyboard, setup midi, open midi file
PB User Reference (manual): table of content sidebar
        install (and using liveusb)
        troubleshoot (problem/solution)
        attaching midi input/output (including midi sythesis, i.e. Fluidsynth)
        making midi (abcplus, mma)
        making livecd/usb
        building from source
Homepage: major news(month/quarterly)
        highlight: picture of example user setup
                example midi ("latest contribution" or "voted: most downloaded new Midi file in March")
Hardware: keyboards, midi interfaces, and OS used by community
MIDI: popular collections, list of free content, list of content released under Creative Commons (CC)
Piano courses: popular, free, CC
Mini Course:
        theory
        exercises: link to midi files
        note-chart: link to photo, link to file, link to forum
Developer's Guide: see sourceforge homepage
CC and Midi: what songs are legal to share?
        Guidelines for contributions

[Louis B.]

I have got a very rough working in progress manual that I started but have not got so far with it. I will post you that tomorrow.

Louis

[Louis B.]

I have just discovered I don't yet have admin right to the sourceforge WIKI pages. So no one else can edit it yet.

But i am happy with all you have suggested. do what ever you feel inspired to do and you think needs improving.

I have written something on

• Getting Started with Piano Booster
• Beginners Hints and Tips on playing the piano
• Beginners Piano Course

On the latest version of PB from svn you can display an html flash card like in the screen shot below. Start with pianobooster -x to enable this feature.

Louis

[jesselks]

I've put up what I have so far, plus the intro text you sent. All areas have quite a ways to go, but is there a place most in need?

The HTML flash card is awesome! I'll try it out soon. If the HTML card could be changed at each bar (or jumped to an anchor, if exists, then folks so inclined could make HTML w/ pictures/graphics to show finger position suggestions. Also lyrics.

[Louis B.]

Hi I have just put the FAQ onto the wiki pages.

It can be accessed from:

https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/pianobooster/

I have also just checked in the code + muisc in svn for the music flash card pages

(to get the code from svn see FAQ - How_do_I_get_the_very_latest_code_from_subversion)

[jesselks]

Anyone think this would be helpful on the "Quick, 1-page intro" on the wiki?

It's 500k, but I don't have much experience with image processing, so I imagine something smaller could be made.

pb-quickintro.gif

[Louis B.]

Yes this looks fantastic, but maybe for complete beginners  you should start with the thumb on middle C and then use one finger per note. may be it should go in the beginners hints and tips page

I don't know how to make it smaller either other than using less frames and making the picture dimensions smaller.

Just googled and found this link.

     http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/aboutgraphics/l/aaoptimizegifs.htm.

I have just put the wiki help page live on the pb website.

Louis