Comment 7 for bug 504668

@Benjamin,

I am not really tied to the number of chapters. For example, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are not really long enough to be "chapters" in their own right, and can be considered more of a Prologue. There's also a way to reorganize my proposed set into fewer chapters, such as for example:

Prologue and About Ubuntu (current chapters 1 and 2)
1. Installation (can keep the current chapter, though minus the discussion on non-Desktop versions; these move to ch 15)
2. Understanding your desktop (keep the "Gnome environment" part of the chapter)
3. Getting online (networking, web browsing, email, IM)
4. Using your peripherals (audio, printing, video, multi-mon, etc; talk about managing media within Nautilus too)
5. Controlling your system (Preferences and Administration menus, discussion on security)
6. Using Ubuntu applications (go over each of the default applications and accessories in the Applications menu)
7. Finding and installing more software (Talk about Software Center, touch on synaptic)
8. Keeping your system working well (talk about Update Manager, and any other novice system maintenance tasks)
9. Advanced topics: Terminal, Troubleshooting common problems (current "Introduction to the terminal" section of chapter 7, current chapter 10)
10. Advanced topics: Learning more about Ubuntu, Other applications (talk about other distros, and how to learn Linux better; current chapter 9)

So here's a way to cut this down to short prologue + 10 chapters. An in-depth discussion of the CLI can go with troubleshooting in chapter 9, and other apps can live under "learning more" in chapter 10.

As far as content, I think that we may want to rethink task allocation and make it sub-chapter (i.e. have second-level headings assignable), which will allow us to work on the final structure and will allow more people to collaborate.

However, I do think that the current structure focuses entirely too much on topics that assume that the user does not have Ubuntu at all (current chapters 1, 2, and 3), or has Ubuntu working well and wants to do more with it (chapters 5 - 10). Philosophically, if we're aiming at new users -- new computer users, new Ubuntu users -- we need to do a kick-ass job on the core "using Ubuntu" use case, and can leave the really advanced or ancillary use cases mainly to the documentation team.

@tacantra, I too like the fact that contemporary GUI-based operating systems, Ubuntu included, often have powerful command prompts. However, I think that -- much like JaminDay wrote -- having the CLI featured heavily in a beginners manual is going to be counter-productive to helping new users feel comfortable that they can use Ubuntu instead of Windows/Mac OS. This does not, however, prevent us from including some CLI stuff in asides clearly marked as advanced use, even earlier in the book than the last few chapters.