[josm-dev] A total newbie's problems with josm

[ael]

David Groom wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "ael" <law_ence.dev at ntlworld.com>
> To: <josm-dev at openstreetmap.org>
> Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 4:44 PM
> Subject: [josm-dev] A total newbie's problems with josm
> 
> 
>> I thought that it would be useful to communicate my frustrations with
>> josm in my first couple of hours after downloading version 477,
>> "last change 2007-11-30 : 13:56:02"
>>
>> The opening page about a "modeless" version wasn't really meaningful to
>> a new user, but at least it alerted me to possible problems.
> 
> I agree that it might be time to drop this note now .
> 
>> The reference to API 0.5 also on that page didn't seem relevant since I
>> took API to mean Application Programmer Interface, so something to be
>> explored later. I now gather that it actually refers to a new xml
>> version. As I had taken a look at some of the osm xml syntax before
>> downloading josm, a reference to the xml change would have helped.
>>
>> Online help.
>> ===========
>>
>> This was perhaps the major problem! At first I thought that it referred
>> to a different program! Indeed, it does - an earlier version.
>>
>> Examples:
>>
>> The "Introduction to JOSM" starts referring to segments in the second
>> paragraph: I gather they have been abolished in osm version 0.5.
> 
> A lot of people do still in fact refer to the individual parts of the way, 
> between the nodes as segments,  It seems far mare elegant than saying the 
> "part of the way between adjacent nodes".
> 
> 
>> Editing in JOSM, also in the Introduction - so almost the first thing I
>> read - refers to
>> 'the node button (4th button in the left menu bar) looks like a little
>> square and when you hover the mouse over it a tip comes up saying "add a
>> node to the map".'
>>
>> Of course, none of the above exist, but I spent far too much time
>> fiddling with the GUI trying to see if I could make that magic button
>> appear some how :-(
>>
>> I could go on, but you see the point: it is totally confusing and off
>> putting to the new user.
>>
> 
> Agreed.  It is unfortunteate, but this page is perhaps the only page not 
> updated when JOSM underwent a major rework  in the last couple of months.
> 
> I, for one, do try and look at the JOSM changesets and if they are relevant 
> to the online documentation I try and ammend the documenttaion.  Its is a 
> pity I miseed that one page, but in general I think you will find the online 
> help relatively up to date.  It is always welcome however to have errors in 
> the documentation pointed out.
> 
>> Of course this is open source and documentation often (always?) lags
>> behind, but all that is needed is a prominent notice warning newbies
>> that the online help is out of date!
>>
>> In passing, I also struggled to find out how the mouse operated: in
>> particular, it was quite some time before I discovered that I needed
>> shift-ctl-mouse_button for some actions. Shades of emacs (which I don't
>> mind), but this was unexpected and not well documented.
>>
>> Tags
>> ====
>>
>> As I said earlier, I have already taken a quick look at the osm xml and
>> noticed that the basic tag for a road type was "highway". There is
>> (obviously) much mention of tagging, but nowhere on the GUI could I find
>> any mention of tags! I now know they are under "presets" and of course I
>> looked there. However, I knew that a basic tag was "highway", but it did
>> not seem to be a Preset, so again I decided that Presets were something
>> to be explored later after I had found out how to do the 3 basic tasks :
>> 1) creating nodes;
>> 2) collecting into ways;
>> and
>> 3) tagging said ways.
>>
>> So help the newbie by mentioning tags in the GUI or put something in the
>> Introduction to say that Presets are tags. Or change tag to preset or
>> something on the GUI in the getting started help...
> 
> The first line of the help page for presets does in fact say " This brings 
> up a list of predefined groups of tags which you can then choose to apply to 
> ways and nodes."  If you think this can be worded more clearly then feel 
> free to edit the online help.

But of course, I didn't read that because I had already decided that
Presets weren't what I was looking for. In my preliminary research into
osm, I had looked at the osm tag documentation and skimmed all the
defined tags. And as I say, the  Presets didn't seem to match them very
directly. Of course, you will tend to want to say RTFM in reply, but
here I am just trying to document how easy it is for a newbie to get misled.

As I said in another message, I don't feel that I should touch the wiki
until I have a little more experience: I am sure to have other
misconceptions at the very least.

A Lawrence