SasView Tutorials: The Next Generation

Background

We need to replace the dated and monolithic (SasView 2.x) Tutorial ​(here) that presently ships with SasView 4.x with new materials that are fresh, engaging, and modern.

Several existing tickets relating to the provision of 'tutorials' are now captured on this wiki page and the corresponding tickets closed:

• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/387 - Need new tutorial documentation
• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/516 - Add Pr Tutorial module
• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/517 - Add Invariant Tutorial Module
• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/518 - Add 1D model fitting tutorial
• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/519 - Add 2D model fitting Tutorial
• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/520 - Add constrained fit Tutorial
• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/521 - Add simultaneous fitting tutorial
• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/522 - Add Batch Fitting Tutorial

Some of the 'next generation' material will require our SasView documentation build processes to produce PDF files. Tickets relevant to this are:

• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/510 - Build PDF documentation along with HTML
• http://trac.sasview.org/ticket/927 - Add PanDoc to Build Servers

The issue of 'tutorials' has previously been raised on this Wiki at:

• http://trac.sasview.org/wiki/Documentation%20Work%20Package (first created Jan 2015)
• http://trac.sasview.org/wiki/Rework%20Proposal (first created Mar 2016)

Wojciech has made some suggestions regarding frameworks and infrastructure for new tutorial material in ​this document

The Bigger Picture

Any tutorials we produce will be part of a bigger portfolio of 'documentation' comprising:

• the in-program Help (actually called 'Documentation' in SasView itself) - this is invariably the first place any Sasview User looks for answers
• the Tutorials themselves
• the SasView ​Website - which has a good FAQ page created from actual questions from Users & links to other resources
• the SasView ​TRAC site - primarily for the Development Team, but a lot of content should be accessible to 'advanced' Users

Whilst there will be some cross-over between these different strands they should not seek to duplicate material unnecessarily.

So What Is A Tutorial?

A Tutorial is self-paced instruction that provides a step-by-step approach to some learning unit.

It should be interactive, visual (and/or possibly audio), goal-driven, and provide some form of feedback or test of learning (such as through question-answer exercises and/or providing access to comparative results).

The Need For A Philosophy

The problem with the Tutorial definition above is that it potentially encompasses a wide range of delivery mechanisms. Within the SasView project we are, of necessity (given our available resources), going to need to focus on providing the key material in the most accessible form. That means Tutorial documents in HTML, PDF, and possibly (since the production overhead should essentially be zero given the first two) eBook formats.

Anything else simply cannot be a priority for us at the moment. It could, however, be provided by the Community if they so wished…

If we agree that we shall provide some Tutorial documents then, to ease production, maximise buy-in, and encourage Community contributions where applicable, we need a production platform that is free, intuitive (ie, WYSIWYG), and suitable for version control using TRAC. (The current Tutorial is written in Microsoft Powerpoint which only meets two of these criteria).

After looking around Andrew identified two possibilities:

• ​Oxygen XML Editor
• ​Libre Office Writer - this is what used to be Open Office

Both of these are WYSIWYG and both provide output in an Open XML format which would allow TRAC to do difference-checking for version control purposes. But only Libre Office is free.