Merge master changes into rewrite

docs/index.rst

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ See also the `Github Homepage`_ and the `Updates Blog`_
 
 .. _Github Homepage: https://github.com/overviewer/Minecraft-Overviewer
 
-.. _Updates Blog: http://mcoverviewer.blogspot.com/
+.. _Updates Blog: http://overviewer.org/blog/
 
 Introduction
 ============
@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ our `Github Homepage`_.
 packages and don't want to have to compile anything yourself**, head to the
 :doc:`installing` page.
 
+**Running Windows and not familiar with the command line?** Head to the
+:doc:`win_tut/windowsguide` page.
+
 **If you would like to build the Overviewer from source yourself (it's not that
 bad)**, head to the :doc:`Building <building>` page.
 
@@ -148,6 +151,7 @@ Documentation Contents
    building
    running
    config
+   win_tut/windowsguide
    faq
    design/designdoc
 

docs/win_tut/windowsguide.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+====================
+Windows Newbie Guide
+====================
+If you're running Windows and aren't as familiar with the Windows command
+prompt as the rest of the documentation assumes you are, this page is for you!
+
+The Overviewer is a *command line* tool, which means you will need to use the command line to run it.
+
+**First step:** Open the command line.
+    Open your Start menu and type in the box 'cmd' and press enter. If you're
+    running XP you'll go to the "run" option instead and then type 'cmd' and
+    press enter.
+
+    .. image:: opening_cmd.png
+    
+    This should bring up the *command prompt*, a black window with a prompt
+    where you can type *commands*. The prompt part will probably look something
+    like ``C:\Users\andrew>`` followed by a cursor where you type your commands.
+
+    .. image:: cmd.png
+
+    Leave this window open and move on to step 2.
+
+Now that you know how to open a command line, and haven't been scared off yet,
+the next step is to download the latest Overviewer.
+
+**Step 2:** Download Overviewer
+    Go to the `Downloads Page
+    <https://github.com/overviewer/Minecraft-Overviewer/downloads>`_ and
+    download the *latest* version for your architecture, either 32 bit or 64
+    bit.
+
+    *This is important. If you don't know which to choose, 32 or 64,* then you
+    can find out by clicking on the start menu, *right clicking* on the
+    "Computer" icon or "My Computer" icon (depending on your version of
+    Windows), and then selecting "Properties." Somewhere among the information
+    about your computer it should tell you if you're running a *32 bit operating
+    system* or *64 bit operating system*.
+
+    .. image:: computer_properties.png
+    
+    .. image:: system.png
+
+    Once you know if your computer is 32 or 64 bit, go and download the latest
+    version. We make small changes all the time, and a new version is uploaded
+    to that page for every change we make. It's usually best to just get the
+    latest.
+
+Okay, you've got a command prompt open. You've got The Overviewer downloaded.
+We're half way there!
+
+**Step 3:** Extract the Overviewer zip you downloaded.
+    This is easy. I assume you know how to unzip things. Unzip the contents to
+    somewhere you can find easily. You'll need to find it in the command
+    prompt. It may help to leave the window with the unzipped contents open so
+    you can remind yourself where it is.
+
+    *Keep all those files together!* They're all needed to run The Overviewer.
+
+    .. image:: extracting.png
+
+**Step 4:** Change directory in command prompt to the location of overviewer.exe
+    You remember the location of the files you just extracted? Windows doesn't
+    always make it easy. Here's how in windows 7: just click on the little icon
+    to the left of the directory name.
+
+    .. image:: location1.png
+
+    .. image:: location2.png
+    
+    Got the location? Good. We're going to *change directory* to that directory
+    with the command prompt. Bring the command prompot window back up. The
+    command we're going to use is called ``cd``, it stands for ... *change
+    directory*!
+
+    I'm going to illustrate this with an example. Let's say you extracted
+    Overviewer to the directory
+    ``c:\users\andrew\overviewer``. Here is exactly
+    what you'll type into the command prompt and then press enter::
+
+        cd c:\users\andrew\overviewer
+
+    .. image:: changed_dir.png
+
+    Okay, did it work? Your command *prompt* should now have the *current
+    working directory* in it. If your prompt changed to the directory that you
+    just cd'd to, then your current directory changed successfully! You're ready
+    for the next step!
+
+Okay before we actually run Overviewer for real, let's do a checkpoint. You
+should have *cd*'d to the directory where overviewer.exe is. To test, type this
+in and you should see the help text print out::
+
+    overviewer.exe --help
+
+note the two hyphens before "help". You should see something like this:
+
+.. image:: usage.png
+
+The help text displays the *usage* of overviewer.exe, or the parameters it takes
+to run it. It's kind of long, I had to make my window larger to show it all.
+
+::
+
+    Usage:
+    overviewer.exe [OPTIONS] <World # / Name / Path to World> <tiles dest dir>
+
+Command line tool usage convention says that items in [square brackets] are
+*optional*, while items in <angled brackets> are *required*.
+
+**Step 5** Render a map!
+    Okay, so to render a map, you have to run ``overviewer.exe`` with two
+    *parameters*: the *world name* and a *destination directory*.
+
+    Let's say you have a world named "Singleplayer world" and you want to put
+    the tiles into a directory on your desktop. Try typing this into the command
+    prompt::
+
+        overviewer.exe "Singleplayer world" c:\users\andrew\desktop\mymap
+
+    .. note::
+        You can also use a path to your world instead of a world name if you
+        know where it's stored. World names only work for single-player worlds.
+
+    If everything went according to plan, The Overviewer should now be churning
+    away furiously on your world, rendering thousands of image files that
+    compose a map of your world.
+
+    When it's done, open up the file ``index.html`` in a web browser and you
+    should see your map!
+
+I hope this has been enough to get some of you Windows noobs started on The
+Overviewer. Sorry there's no easy-to-use graphical interface right now. We want
+to make one, we really do, but we haven't had the time and the talent to do so
+yet.
+
+As a next step, head to the :doc:`../options` page to see what else The Overviewer
+can do. And as always, feel free to drop by in `IRC
+<http://overviewer.org/irc/>`_ if you have any questions! We're glad to help!