Plan for Brandon Maness

Since I occasionally find myself working offline, I enjoy having all of my documentation in offline form. The design of the initial video tutorial system does not make this any easy endeavor since each video step is really many .swf clips stitched together. To make things worse, these videos grow and develop through time, which also makes the process of keeping the offline documentation up to date a bear. Combine this with the desire to keep the existing forum system intact and you have the beginning of a nightmare. Not to mention cross platform issues.

Here are some design goals of the offline VDS - Video Document System:

1. Easy to navigate menu system that allows you to update, download, and manage tutorials on your local hard drive for offline use.

2. Integrated online forums with optional offline snapshot mode.

3. Text and Picture document viewer to enhance and support each step in the tutorial.

4. Easily update the VDS 'core' without installer and setup issues.

5. Streamlined 'What's new' section so you can easily browse through the new stuff.

6. Optional Mac support - depending on beta test volunteers and amount of interest.

I'm not sure about Linux support.. If there are any Linux guru's willing to point me in the right direction give a shout!

I'm just starting on the VDS, but here is a screenshot of the very early alpha interface.


Again, if you are a Mac or Linux user speak now or forever hold your peace.

B--