We have a bit of this kind of thing started in the Docs:
I’ve found that I can answer most issues that aren’t unique to a specific machine/set-up/goal with it. But I’d love any help in finding any places we could improve it! Feel free to tag me! I try to get on here a couple of times a week at least.
That said, I too have been banging on about a ‘choose your own adventure’-style crowd-sourced wiki-ish guide to complex troubleshooting (for ‘Wicked Problems’) for several years now. It started when I was really active in 3D printing communities and we were solving similar problems.
Even hooked up with some great devs (before I worked for LightBurn) to try and get it started, but the thing about great devs is that they are in high demand , and it was just a fun/side project for us at the time.
I think similar could be achieved in wiki software, after a fashion. Just takes dedicated content-writers.
The devs here at LightBurn do have some ideas about richer help systems within the software itself, though! I know it’s on their mind! So these kinds of discussions are really helpful!
Lightburn docs are good, but I think they only touch the surface.
There are numerous members with unique knowledge of specific machines etc. that if it could be all brought together many problems could be answered with a good trouble tree style guide.
Maybe start floating some ideas here for feedback.
There are numerous members with unique knowledge of specific machines etc. that if it could be all brought together many problems could be answered with a good trouble tree style guide.
I absolutely could not agree more.
Maybe start floating some ideas here for feedback.
I’m not one of the developers (I’m in docs/content), and I have no real say in their work, but some ideas I have seen floated (or had) are;
Gameified Learning System in LightBurn itself that shows progress like “You have used 13 out of 282 tools and functions found in LightBurn! Here are some you haven’t yet tried…” This encourages curiosity and introduces folk to ‘what they don’t know that they don’t know’. (numbers made up).
Richer tooltips for the tools in LightBurn that have gifs/super short videos demonstrating the tool along with richer descriptions and how to use the tool (a couple of sentences) with links to relevant docs pages for more info. This would support ‘organic’ learning by encouraging curiosity “What does this do?” and giving folk a place to start.
Clippy-style helper that sits in the side of the software and offers contextual info “Hold alt to increase the snapping distance. Learn more >>”, “Click and drag in the preview to select a part of the image you’re tracing. Learn More >>”, etc.
A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style troubleshooting guide that’s built in collaboration with the community (as above).
A web preview of the forum or a discord server or similar shown when jobs are running, to encourage people to get involved/ help others/seek help/be introduced to new concepts.
Tips and tricks shown when a job is running (with opt-out ofc) just a bunch that are randomised, when you clear one it won’t be shown again (or won’t be for a while). Each point to a web page with more info.
A richer self-serve learning path for new users, with milestones and badges and such , potentially with each lesson making a ‘part’ of a completed item.
Some things the docs team are working on is:
Splitting up each function/tool (or group of related tools) onto its own page so we can provide curated collections of information to suit specific goals (that link to the pages) e.g. vectors, tracing, cameras, text, testing, combining shapes. We will also list them all in a biiiig catalog for those that want to know everything.
The above splitting will make it easier to write guides and tutorials for specific projects or goals, e.g. “Engraving Tumblers”, “Finding the Perfect Image Settings”, “How to make a Monogrammed Holiday Decoration”, etc.
, and it was just a fun/side project for us at the time.