[pmwiki-users] Cookbook Meal "Deals" . . .

David Spitzley dspitzle at wash.k12.mi.us
Mon Mar 14 15:50:37 CST 2005


Well, I vote that we keep Cookbook, regardless of whether we extend the
metaphor.  To be honest, Cookbook is a very good metaphor for what's in
there; I understood what it meant on my first visit.  It's also worth
considering that by now it's part of the flavor and "folksonomy" of
PmWiki.


David

>>> "Patrick R. Michaud" <pmichaud at pobox.com> 03/14/05 4:48 PM >>>
On Sun, Mar 13, 2005 at 01:59:08PM -0600, Ben Wilson wrote:
> Okay, after the to and fro, how about calling packages of recipies
> "Meals" instead of "Menus." While I don't think the latter term
would
> confuse many people, the former is much less likely to confuse.

Answer #1 here, answer #2 in the next message.

Actually, I've been wondering where the terms "menus" and "meals"
have been coming from for this, and only today realized that they're 
intended as extensions to the analogy of "cookbook" and "recipe".

Alas, "menu" and "meal" don't really work for me; at least, it took
me a couple of days before I could figure out why they're being
used as suggestions over things like "bundle", "distribution",
"package", "application", etc.

But I guess that means that "cookbook" and "recipe" are equally
confusing to others as well.   Hagan Fox had mentioned this to
me in an earlier email as well.  

So, here's a bit of a ramble to see how we got to where we are
and maybe we can figure out where we need to go to better organize
the information on pmwiki.org.

Believe it or not, in early 2003 the existence of the cookbook itself
was 
delayed for many weeks simply because we couldn't come up with a good 
name for what to call this thing that would hold information about
configuring and customizing PmWiki.  By June 2003 I finally decided
that we couldn't wait any longer for a better name, and I settled on
"Cookbook" because there's some precedence in the various "cookbook"
titles that are published by O'Reilly and Associates (one of my
favorite publishers).

But perhaps the cookbook analogy stretches things a bit too far.  
I certainly feel that "menu" or "meal" go waaay beyond what a 
newcomer to PmWiki is likely to understand or expect (or search for)
as representing a bundle of useful recipes.  Since we have many more
active contributors, opinions, and experience than we did in early 
2003, maybe it's worth searching a bit for a better structure for 
the whole of what we now have as the cookbook, mailing list, PITS, and
documentation.

Here's what I can think of that needs to be made available...

  - configuration tips, examples, and best practices, both at an
author
    and administrative level
  - downloadable scripts and files that extend or modify PmWiki 
    capabilities for specific applications
  - previously asked questions with answers
  - requests for new features or capabilities
  - reports of bugs or other misfeatures

and these are the kinds of things people need to be able to do with
them...

  - easily find a configuration example, explanation, practice, or
    downloadable resource in response to a "how do I ...?" question
  - add new "how do I ...?" questions into the system
  - publish new scripts, examples, and practices for others to use
  - for those things that can be answered, easily link a "how do I
...?"
    question with its corresponding answer(s), which could either
explain
    to achieve the desired result or explain why the desired result
    isn't achievable
  - for those things that aren't immediately answerable, easily mark
    a "how do I ...?" as a potential feature request or something to
    be answered in the future
  - allow readers to vote on the priority of various "how do I ...?"
    questions and requests
  - perform similar operations for "here's a bug/issue" requests
  - allow readers to quickly locate "how do I ...?" and "here's a
bug/issue"
    questions that have already been asked (and perhaps answered)
  - obtain an structural overview of the types of things that can be
    done / are being done with PmWiki

It's important to remember that people often come to the Cookbook
(and indeed PmWiki) with very different sorts of questions:
   1.  How do I get my PmWiki to do XYZ?
   2.  What are all of the things that can be done with PmWiki?

The first question is very directed and task oriented -- i.e.,
someone wants to use PmWiki to solve a specific problem.  The
second question is broad-based and exploratory -- i.e., someone
can see that PmWiki has lots of power, and wants to know something
about the breadth of available options.  The structures on
pmwiki.org need to be able to support each type of inquiry 
(this may mean we need support for two very different navigation
methods for the same information).  And there may be common questions
that I haven't thought of that won't fall naturally into #1 or #2 
above.

Anyway, this is just a ramble and a call for any brainstorms or
other suggestions people might have.

And please, let's not use "menu" or "meal".  :-)

Pm
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