The ComicRack Manual

Presenting to you the ComicRack Manual.. a 100-page pdf that tries to cover all (well, almost all..) the features of ComicRack. From an overview of ComicRack to the installation and configuration to advanced features, the manual aspires to be the new ComicRack bible (in the coming future ).



The Good:

1. ComicRack users have always felt the lack of exhaustive documentation. This manual will try to fill that gap. 2. The manual follows a highly visual style to introduce the full range of features provided by the ComicRack software, thus increasing the new user acceptance. 3.Many sections from this manual can also be used for updating the wiki.

The Shortcomings:

I have been working on this project for the past few months, and after multiple revisions (alphas?) and re-revisions (beta?), I have gathered sufficient courage to release it out. However, I know that it is far from perfect. Why? read below

1. To quote PCWorld, "ComicRack is not just features rich, it is Bill Gates features rich". So, there is so much to cover that some omissions are inadvertent. 2. Since I am no web designer or software geek, the manual's look is still amatuerish despite my hard work. 3. Some sections are shamelessly copied from the ComicRack wiki. 4. Inspite of using ComicRack for many years, I am still not completely familiar with some features (like Network Sharing) and some terminologies (like anamorphic scaling).

The Solutions to these problems:

1.I intend to keep on improving the manual, and releasing new updates from time to time, both to add the features that I missed, and to add the new features as they get introduced. 2.I'll try my best to give the manual a professional look. 3.In newer versions of the manual, I'll replace the wiki-copied sections with my own. 4. I'm still learning !

How can you help the ComicRack Manual Project:

Please download the manual and give it a read. Please point out any errors (of both omission and commission) and I'll try my best to rectify them in the next update. Please do give suggestions as to how we can further improve the look of the manual. If you dislike anything in the manual (or the whole of it), please feel free to give constructive criticism. In case you like it, do give me some good karma.

Here are a few screenshots:







Download link :


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dl.dropbox.com/u/2496412/The%20ComicRack%20Manual%200.9.1.pdf

Format: pdf
Number of pages: 101
Size: 16.22 MB

nice, i especially like the smartlist section. we need to just devote a whole website to smartlists. heres some karma. + thanks man keep up the good work

Wow! That is amazing. +1 very well deserved karma my friend!

I just glanced through it as I am about to head towards bed, but I'll do a thorough read through in the next day or two and see if I can find any corrections or additions.

Once again, Wow!

Thanks Stonepaw & Dr.RoXo !! I was (am) quite apprehensive as to how the members will react to the manual..

There are a few mistakes that have come to my notice.
Most hyperlinks in the manual pdf are not working.
Bookmark section is missing.

All these will be fixed in the next update.

Please continue giving me your feedback

Man, I am sure this is the most important contribution ever to spreading comicrack as it deservers...

I am sure even old bags like myself will find it very useful!!!!

Thanks!

perezmu wrote:

thanks perezmu..that's very nice of you!!

But I feel that the manual looks very raw.. it will require a lot of polishing and fine-tuning to make it a worthwhile companion for the world-class product that ComicRack is I'll work on it to make it as good as it can be..

Excellent work 600! I will be happy to contribute in any way possible.

Great work! I didn't read the whole yet.

Put link to this manual some place visible on the wiki.

Here's some errors I found and a couple of suggestions.

Any suggestions/corrections are in bold where applicable.

Page 10:


Page 20:

Slightly confusing. Perhaps “Allow ComicRack to search your files(folders?) and populate the library”

Page 22:

This is not the case in a fresh installation with the library docked to the bottom. Might want to say something like "Above the Sidebar is the Library Tab Bar"


Page 23:


Page 30

Don't need the "as" before State Indicators.

Page 38:


Page 43:




Page 45:
Should make a note that the Navigation Overlay can be set to either the top or bottom of page. Also a note that it includes the current time and computer battery life (a feature I just noticed btw)



Page 46:


Page 49


Page 64:


Page 65:
Should make a note that you only have the stack option in thumbnail view.

Page 71:
This one is actually my fault as I haven't updated the wiki Smartlist tutorial yet. ComicRack no longer requires you to right-click->edit on the smartlist to edit the rules when you first create the smartlist. I'll update the wiki entry after I finish this post.
Something like this:


Page 73:
Some weird formatting happened on this page.

Add button in the export dialog is now called “Save” (I'll update the wiki entry for this one as well when I finish this post)

Page 77:


Page 95:


....
And that's all I could find. Excellent manual!

Wow..!! Thanks Stoney.. 1+ karma to you for this exhaustive proof-reading ! I checked and re-checked many times, but still missed a lot of grammatical and other mistakes.

All of these will be rectified in the next update. I am planning to publish the next update using QuarkExpress, but that will take time.. so, I think I'll make a small 'bugfix' update of the manual soon.

We are missing cYo here.. would love to hear his views on the manual. Lets hope he gets well soon..