Chalk documentation outline

Last edited 2006-09-08 (Sander Koning)


Changelog (of major updates)

2006-09-08: ASK: add section separators, update for 1.6
2006-05-28: ASK: split into 1.5 and 1.6 parts
2006-01-31: ASK: elaborate on parts to be written; consistent spelling
2006-01-26: ASK: split the "Using Chalk" chapter
2006-01-21: ASK: update and make consistent
2006-01-12: ASK: add status, and put in SVN for others to enjoy ;)
2005-08-31: ASK: adhere to KDE style
2005-08-30: ASK: initial version

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This document tries to give a suitable outline for Chalk's documentation. It
is based on the Chalk manual in SVN (koffice/chalk/doc/manual/chalk.kwd) as of
2005-07-08, the KDE documentation template, and furthermore contains my own
thoughts about what the documentation for a graphics application such as this
should look like.  Comments, suggestions, ideas etc. are more than welcome.
Especially the real content still needs a lot of polishing.

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The current outline (working towards 1.6):

- Introduction
  - What is Chalk
  - Key features
    - Color management
    - File formats
  - About this manual
  - About the application author

- Tutorial
  - Starting to know Chalk (up to a new document)
  - A small selections and layers tutorial
  - Quick start guides
    - Crop an area and save it as a new image
    - Draw a rectangle on your picture
  - Using tablets
  - [TODO] Fills (colors, patterns and gradients)
  - [TODO] Using tool options (the "Tool" palette)
  - [TODO] Editing image properties (resize, rotate, ...)

- [TODO] Painting
  - [TODO] Introduction to Chalk's painting model
  - [TODO] Detailed description of tools and options, colors, ...
  - [TODO] Brushes, adding/customising, ...
  - [TODO] ...

- Viewing
  - Zooming and full screen mode
  - Working with views (multiple and split views)
  - Miscellaneous view options (rulers and grid)

- Layers
  - General information
  - Layer box
  - Working with layers ([TODO] expand)
  - Adjustment layers ([TODO] expand)
  - [TODO] Layer masks
  - Compositing modes ([TODO] expand)
  - [TODO] Create, transform, combine, histograms, ...

- Selections
  - Making a selection
  - Painting your selection
  - Unselecting
  - Making a new selection
  - Selecting a contiguous area (magic wand)
  - Selecting similar colors
  - Inverting the selection
  - [TODO] elaborate and extend hugely

- Filters
  - (all filters)

- Colorspaces
  - Introduction to colorspaces
  - Available colorspaces
  - [TODO] properties, usage, converting, ...

- Commands
  - General layout
  - Menus
  - Toolbars
  - Palettes
  - Dialogs

- Settings

- Developers' information
  - Scripting
  - Plugins

- FAQ

- Credits

- Installation

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Outline for the 1.5 manual (final as of 2006-05-31):

- Introduction
  - What is Chalk
  - Key features
    - Color management
    - File formats
  - About this manual
  - About the application author

- Tutorial
  - Starting to know Chalk (up to a new document)
  - A small selections and layers tutorial
  - Quick start guides
    - Crop an area and save it as a new image
    - Draw a rectangle on you picture

- Layers
  - General information
  - Adjustment layers ([TODO] elaborate)

- Selections
  - Making a selection
  - Painting your selection
  - Unselecting
  - Making a new selection
  - Selecting a contiguous area (magic wand)
  - Selecting similar colors
  - Inverting the selection

- Filters

- Colorspaces
  - Introduction to colorspaces
  - Available colorspaces

- Commands ([TODO] make up-to-date)
  - General layout
  - Menus
  - Toolbars
  - Palettes
  - Dialogs

- Settings

- Scripting

- FAQ

- Credits

- Installation

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An outline of the manual content as in chalk.kwd:

- Introduction
  - About the manual
  - About the author
- Showing Off
  - Intro tutorial
- On the face of it
  - Layout
  - Menus
- Files
- Serious about color
  - Colour theory
- Selections
  - Creating selections (select, unselect, wand)
- Messing with images
- Painting
- Layers
- Filters
- Hacking Chalk
- Configuring Chalk
- Help!
  - Help contact info