Musings of an OpenSolaris Technical Writing Intern Mark Settle's Mighty Pen

My current charge is to explain how to dual-boot OpenSolaris with a second operating system. Leave it to me to accidentally delete my section on Backups, and not have another copy.

There are myriad types and topics of OpenSolaris documentation. This approach is predicated on the idea that if Sun gives users and developers the power to help steer the documentation ship, we’ll have a better idea of where to go. This makes sense, but it works only if users know where to find a given piece of information.

The OpenSolaris Documentation page is the starting point for many users, and its awfully confusing. Having visited it many times over the last month, I think we can do a better job of helping people drill down to the information they need.

1. The page's layout suggests no obvious path for one’s eye.
2. Visual cues like headlines are too sparse.
3. Some lists are divided by subject, others by audience, and others still by pedagogical tool.

I plan to put some time into thinking about how the site can be adjusted for usability, and will post again once I get the chance to organize my ideas.

UPDATE: it's unfashionable to write about usability without mentioning Steve Jobs. So there you have it. Steve Jobs.