ubuntu-mate-guide
A guide to Ubuntu MATE
Written in DocBook XML V4.5 format DocBook - a semantic markup language for technical documentation.
History
The version of this guide provided in Ubuntu MATE release 17.10 and earlier was writtten using the Mallard topic-oriented markup format. Mallard documentation consists of a set of text files for documentation presented to users with the Yelp help system pre-installed in Ubuntu MATE. Mallard formatting is used by several Linux applications packaged with Ubuntu MATE.
With Ubuntu MATE release 18.10 the documentation has been expanded significantly and now uses the DocBook format. DocBook is also a markup format for creating documentation presented to users with the Yelp help system, however the entire documentation is contained in a single file named index.docbook. This format appears to be preferred in documentation produced for applications produced by the MATE project. Although the presentation in the help system is slightly different, both the DocBook format and the Mallard format for documentation can link to one-another and interact nicely in Yelp.
The most recent update to the guide incorporates new applications and features of Ubuntu MATE release 20.04 LTS.
Translations
The documentation is only in English at the moment.
Setting up the DocBook Writing Environment
First, as long as you have a text editor, you have all the tools you need to create the documentation.
Most text editors, like Pluma, have the ability to set the "Highlight Mode" to provide syntax highlighting for DocBook XML files. When using Pluma, you select View > Highlight Mode > Markup > DocBook.
When you save the file with the .docbook extension, the next time you open the file in the text editor, it will be highlighted correctly so that you can continue editing.
Clone the files
mkdir ~/ubuntu-mate-guide
cd ~/ubuntu-mate-guide
git clone git@bitbucket.org:ubuntu-mate/ubuntu-guide.git
Reducing the size of graphics files
Graphics files contained in the /apps and /figures folders. To reduce the size of png and jpg files, use these two commands:
jpegoptim --strip-all -t *.jpg
optipng -strip all -o7 *.png
Testing the index.docbook file
The entire ubuntu-mate-guide is contained in the file index.docbook, with graphics files contained in the /apps and /figures folders. To test the file, open it in Yelp:
yelp index.docbook
File location in Ubunt MATE
The index.docbook file is simply placed in this location /usr/share/help/C/ubuntu-mate-guide/index.dobook. Translations are placed in /usr/share/help/<language>/ubuntu-mate-guide/index.docbook where <language> is the standard two-letter language code.
PDF Conversion
To be completed