Updating wiki documentation and tutorials for 0.17 and PartDesign Next

[drei]

Hi everyone,
I hope you're all doing well.

I've been reading the changes in the different development subforums that we have (specifically FEM) and the new uses of PartDesign Next.
I'm interested in discussing if it's a worthwhile endeavor to start documenting the new workbench and updating/replacing the current tutorials to match the development version.

I'm sure 0.17 will still be in development during the first few months of next year, before offifically releasing it. And it's likely that new changes will emerge, so I'd like to hear your opinion on this.

Note that I'm also reading the release notes for 0.17 and the new features added, so I'm sure that at least parts of the wiki are up-to-date.

Is it too soon to properly document the changes?

[NormandC]

Hi drei,

I believe this has been discussed a few months ago, maybe search the forum this might have been initiated by renatorivo. I'm not sure it would be a good idea to update the existing pages for 0.17 as it is months from being released. The past few releases were published about every 12 months, but it may take more time to complete it this time. It would be confusing to users to see tools and work flow that are not available in the current official release...

That being said I understand the need to get a head start and also provide a resource for people who are testing the new PartDesign workbench... I don't really have a solution in mind.

If you look at the 0.17 best practices topic pinned in the Help forum, there's a link to a sandbox page that Renato started.

[drei]

Thanks NormandC.
I'll check out Renato's sandbox and prepare some drafts on my sandbox as well.
By looking at the current status of the project, we are taking a turn for the better in FreeCAD. Can't wait for the new changes in FEM to be merged into master, specifically GMSH support.

[r-frank]

Hello.

I like to point out something (for me) obvious.
I consider myself an average normal user.

0.16 is very stable, quite well documented and a lot of videos and written tutorials exist.
I think i will leave the 0.16 version for quite a long time on my computer and use it extensivly.
[maybe some of the workbenches won't be ported to 0.17 ?]

I am unsure about the written tutorials on the wiki.
They state clearly the version they are made for.

So we could make seperate tutorials for 0.17+ and maybe put (colored ?) links in the original tutorials pointing to the 0.17+ - versions.
In the wiki documentation for Part Design (0.16 and earlier) and Part Design Next (0.17 and upwards) should COEXIST.
We will have users entering the forum having installed 0.15/0.16 asking questions and not knowing the details for a long time ...

Please spend some time thinking about these points before making significant changes.

Thanks.
Roland

[renatorivo]

maybe search the forum this might have been initiated by renatorivo

Thanks NormandC.
I'll check out Renato's sandbox and prepare some drafts on my sandbox as well.

Sandbox:Part_Design_Next is free to all. You can modify it as you want.

Renato