Google Season of Docs 2024
GSoD is a Google program to connect professional technical writers with open source projects.
https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs?hl=de
On this page, we can collect ideas for our participation in the 2024 round of GSoD.
About your organisation
Inkscape (current version 1.3, first released in 2003) is a GPL-licensed program for creating artwork using SVG as its native format. Inkscape is widely used to create artwork (web graphics, logos, book illustrations, comics, games, and scientific publications) that require scalability. It is available for Linux, Windows and MacOS with millions of users.
Inkscape is a member of the Software Freedom Conservancy.
About your project: Update INKSCAPE – Guide to a Vector Drawing Program
Your project's problem
Inkscape is a very large and complex program. Many books, on-line tutorials, and videos are available to help people to learn to use Inkscape. What is missing, though, is an up-to-date, complete manual that covers all parts of Inkscape. The most complete on-line manual, Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program (freely available on the web and linked to from Inkscape itself), is woefully out-of-date. The last complete update of this manual was done in 2011, with a partial update in 2017. Despite that, Inkscape users still find it quite useful (as documented by the number of times users are directed to it on social media). Your project's scope.
This project will bring the on-line manual up-to-date:
- Update the tutorials.
- Update chapters on each part of Inkscape's interface.
- Create new chapters for new tools (The Shape Builder and Pages).
- Create new sections for new dialogs.
- Move the on-line website from the Author's personal site to Inkscape's official site. (Apart from looking more official, this would enable use of https, making indexing by Google easier, as well as provide more reliable hosting).
Out-of-scope work:
- Update or include tutorials reserved under contract to the publisher of the printed book.
As a side benefit, revising the manual will probably uncover regressions and bugs with newer Inkscape versions, which we can then track and fix.
The author of the original manual is available to write the update with review by volunteers.
Measuring your project's success
The number of times that users access the on-line book would be an indication of the success of the project, however, Inkscape's long term commitment to user's privacy makes this difficult. A simpler measure of the success of the project would be the number of sections updated.
Timeline
Updating the full manual is a year-long part-time project, however, Inkscape would still benefit greatly if a significant fraction of the manual was updated. The target for this program would be to update half the book, focusing on the most pressing parts.
Dates
| Dates | Action Items |
|---|---|
| May | Preliminary work (Gitlab site, continue with DocBook or switch to another source format, update tooling, etc.) |
| June-July | Update introductory text and tutorials. |
| August | Create new chapters for Shape tool and Page tool. |
| September-November | Update individual chapters, prioritized by the Inkscape community. |
Project Budget
| Budget item | Amount | Running Total | Notes/justifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical writer, manual update. | 12500.00 | 12500.00 | |
| Volunteer stipends | 500.00 | 13500.00 | 2 volunteer stipends x 500 each |
| Software Freedom Conservancy fee | 1500.00 | 15000.00 | Inkscape is a member of SFC (as suggested also on the GSoD documentation), and due to our fiscal sponsorship agreement, the SFC takes a 10% cut of the gross income of the project. |
| TOTAL | 15000.00 |
Additional information
- Previous experience with technical writers or documentation: Inkscape maintains a website with user and developer documentation. Keeping this website current is a one of the most difficult problems we face. All contributions have been made by volunteers.
- Previous participation in Google Season of Docs, Google Summer of Code or others: Inkscape has participated in Google Summer of Code every year except for one, since its inception. GSoC students have made significant contributions to Inkscape.
- Disclosure: The manual’s author is a long-time Inkscape contributor and is a member of Inkscape's Project Leadership Committee.