I've looked a bit into the user manual to see if I could help documenting.

I feel the structure is a bit hard to follow now and would need a (careful) rework.

First the reference guide is divided into versions. Right now everything is documented under 0.7.4 which means it's already old.
I think we need to move everything out of a version structure. If it's possible to add tags or similar we could mark each document with the version it's written for. When a new version of Kdenlive is released we can then go through the documentation and either confirm or update the documentation and update the tag to the new version number.

Next I can't find any glossary or index making it hard to find content and use the manual for quick reference.

Is it possible to mark content into categories and groups? Is it possible to have group pages like in wiki pages? - All content marked with a certain category is listed on a category page?

I agree, Kdenlive would need a good up-to-date documentation. There are quite a lot of "hidden" features around, which is a pity. One of the main problems is that the software is evolving quite quickly, so it would have to be updated regularly (with each release).

I've browsed a bit more, trying to add content and I must say I think the site software is a blunt tool for documentation. I started to add Menu items and for each and every item with subitems you have to add a new page. Tedious work.

Why was the documentation moved from a wiki into Drupal? Any other reason than to have everything collected in the same site I mean? Would it be possible to integrate a wiki site into the current Drupal site for documentation?

I would also like to have a Wiki.
This would make it a lot easier for people to contribute to our documentation.

Thumb up for that :)

Agreed also, 'Your first Kdenlive project' from the user manual or videotutorials from Kdenlive 0.7.1 just don't work for me (although greatly appreciated) when I want to learn something new quickly. A wiki containing all the elements of the program might be a good way to keep users informed and turned on to the software.

Please take a look at this thread in our mailing list:
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=4C437040.9000602%40ttill.de&forum_name=kdenlive-devel

At the very least, a glossary of the terms used in the manual would be a huge help.

I also concur that the present organization is, to be blunt, terrible and terribly outdated. There is little point to having a document that isn't even close to the current reelease. In most of the software projects I have ever worked on (40+ years now) we were required to have up to date documentation. That was for corporate products with paying customers. I contend that this is even more important for volunteer projects with public exposure - if your documentation is not up to date, how is anyone supposed to learn and use the project?

Just my $0.02, but I hope this is taken with an eye toward improving the project to make it more usable and, probably, popular as well.

Thanks.

- Mark

Documentation is typically a point (with translations) where developers expect help from community, because this doesn't require programming knowledge.
It even doesn't especially requires a deep knowledge of the program, as it has largely been written by newcomers documenting things while discovering
It is also really easy to contribute as it is on open wiki, in which anyone can write.
So blaming goes to everyone who just doesn't find the time to improve this obviously not satisfying part ("you - me -everybody"...)

I would suggest that the experts who use this app all the time would be the best documenters. I had trouble because I am just starting to edit videos on a some-time basis, and this one was quite a lot harder to use than its rating as the #1 easiest to use video editor on Linux eould suggest.

For the record, I tried OpenShot and found it easier to use, even though I had to guess wildly at what I was doing because its interface is much more sparse that kdenlive.

As I go I'll be happy to contribute to the wiki if I get to a point where I can even think I know what I'm doing.

A glossary would help tremendously - I'm not familiar with all the lingo of video parts (clips, segments, etc) and could use a lot of help.

Thank you for your consideration.