[pmwiki-users] More Better Documentation . . .

[Ben Wilson]

I see there is PmWikiFeatures. Still needs to be plastered on the
front page. :-)

On 5/21/06, Ben Wilson <dausha at gmail.com> wrote:
> First, I would like to say my rash of posting is not because I'm
> hopped up on some crazy new developer juice. My semester ended with a
> whimper on Tuesday and the summer term begins Tuesday next. I'm too
> old for school so I'm pushing hard to graduate by Christmas. (Sounds
> sort of like very promise at the onset of war--to be home by
> Christmas.) Anyway, my wife is humoring my need to program--or more
> specifically to clean up half-baked projects over the past several
> months. Either way, in 10 days I'll suddenly fall silent.[1]
>
> I know as a Community we pretty much struggle with the issue of clear
> documentation. Granted, I've not been as involved with documentation
> so when I say we I understand it's more y'all than "me too."
>
> Maybe I have not noticed before, but we have a fair amount of new
> users who are asking some good questions. A few of them I thought were
> softballs that had answers in the documentation. Then, I went looking
> for the documentation.
>
> I know there's a recent discussion on this issue. I need to pay more
> attention to that thread. I definitely think we need some "Getting
> Started" link right on the front page--above the fold.[2]
>
> We probably also need a more developed "Features" page.[3] Isn't there
> a CMS watch type site out there that allows individual wiki to be
> ranked side by side? It's been a couple of years since I've
> looked--and a hasty google returned bupkiss. Regardless, we might try
> listing the Features categorically and help answer why PmWiki stands
> out.
>
> We definitely need the time to catch the documentation up. Perhaps
> even a tagging system to show what is current. Pm, don't the pages
> secret the version of PmWiki that was used to last edit them? If so,
> we probably need a pagelist by group to see which are old and which
> are new.
>
> Heck, I'd almost encourage setting up a separate wiki field with clean
> documentation and start over. A veritable "clean slate." While a fair
> amount of material could come directly over, at least it would help us
> sort our the cruft. And a fresh set of categories to help guide
> neophytes.
>
> --
> Ben Wilson
> " Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur"
>
> [1]: "Ben, what's wrong?" Luke asked. "I felt a great disturbance in
> the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and
> were suddenly silenced." That's the sound I hear the day before the
> start of classes--millions crying out in terror. When we show up in
> class we are suddenly silent as professors prowl about looking for a
> student that they can devour with the Socratic (or Sarcastic) Method.
>
> [2]: PmWiki/GettingStarted, which does not exist. I know there's a
> PmWiki/EditGettingStarted. We need to have a "walk through" offering.
>
> [3]: http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/Features is very scant and has
> not been revised since December 2004!
>


-- 
Ben Wilson
" Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur"