True ZenPhoto User Guide

klawPhotography

Please read the entire post before responding. Also assume no 3rd party anything, just the straight ZenPhoto installation.

Is there a true user guide? What is labelled on this site as a "User Guide" at http://www.zenphoto.org/news/category/user-guide is not a user guide. It is list of links to cobbled-together howto documents related to specific topics more to do with customizing, adapting, and troubleshooting installation problems with the application than anything to do with actually using the application.

User Guide - noun - From Myriam Webster: a document that tells you how to do something, for example how to use a computer program

The page talking about URL structure http://www.zenphoto.org/news/zenphoto-url-structure is flagged as a user guide. It doesn't really tell you how to do anything and definitely does nothing towards telling you how to use the program.

A ZenPhoto user guide ideally would explain how to use ZenPhoto. Not modify, not install, not translate, not add 3rd party applications - those topics belong in developer or administrative guides. have, for example, a Getting Started section that would define key concepts such as the concept of an album, a watermark, a tag, etc. and how it is used in ZenPhoto.

The installation instructions and help is spot-on and can help get an knowledgeable web/web application admin up and running in no time.

Then what? Assume a user with no technical knowledge that wants to be able to publish pictures, password, and copyright protect them. What comes next? For most software, the end user turns to a user guide.

Creating a new gallery and uploading pictures is pretty obvious. Beyond that? Something is needed to get the end user up to speed on key concepts and how they're used ... something that gets the user away from "start clicking stuff and hope the right things happen" mode is needed.

acrylian

Thanks for your feedback. Zenphoto is actually pretty straightforward to use and a lot is explained right on the backend. So we don't double that on the website again. The user guide - as you noticed - covers also developer topics.

Of course since Zenphoto is a tool for self hosting a bit knowledge of web terms and technical things is to be expected.

However, we know that our user guide could use some work and it is planned. But we are a small team. That said since we are an open source project contributions of things missing are welcome: http://www.zenphoto.org/pages/get-involved