On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 4:51 PM, Keith N. McKenna <keith.mcke...@comcast.net> wrote: > Rob Weir wrote: >> >> On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 2:54 PM, Keith N. McKenna >> <keith.mcke...@comcast.net> wrote: >>> >>> Rob Weir wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 at 1:41 PM, Andrea Pescetti <pesce...@apache.org> >>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 26/11/2012 Rob Weir wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> [Can I install Openoffice on my IPAD?] I nominate this for an FAQ. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> I agree. But where is our FAQ page currently? Unfortunately, there's an >>>>> "OpenOffice FAQ" easily reachable by search engines at >>>>> http://www.openoffice.org/faq.html and quite outdated (I don't know >>>>> whether >>>>> it's reachable from the home page, but it doesn't seem so). >>>>> >>>>> Time to make a new FAQ available or update the old one and link to it >>>>> from >>>>> the current site? >>>>> >>>> >>>> The current location of the FAQ is prominent in search results. That >>>> is valuable and worth preserving. >>>> >>>> But the current FAQ contents are out of date. They would need a lot >>>> of work to update/correct them. >>>> >>>> Although the FAQ's are presented in a way that is OK for the user, the >>>> static HTML source is structured in a way that will be painful to >>>> maintain. Getting a cleaner structure, for example using HTML >>>> definition lists (<dl>) would be easier and could be maintained via >>>> the CMS web interface. >>>> >>>> There is another set of FAQ's on the documentation wiki: >>>> http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/FAQ >>>> >>>> These also appear to be unmaintained. But I think the wiki version >>>> would be easier to maintain. >>>> >>>> So one possible resolution could be: >>>> >>>> 1) Take anything of use from the FAQ's at >>>> http://www.openoffice.org/faq.html and copy them into new FAQ items on >>>> the wiki >>>> >>>> 2) Update the other FAQ's on the wiki >>>> >>>> 3) Add new items to the wiki FAQ (like the iPAD question) >>>> >>>> 4) Delete the old FAQ directory and replace with a single page that >>>> directs the reader to the wiki FAQ's. >>>> >>>> >>>> -Rob >>>> -Rob >>>> >>>>> Regards, >>>>> Andrea. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> Rob; >>> >>> I have been updating some of the FAQ's on the wiki site that were tagged >>> as >>> needing help. I am more than willing to start a comprehensive review and >>> clean-up of the User FAQ's on the documentation wiki if that is the way >>> we >>> decide to go. The advantage is that the wiki is easier to maintain and it >>> is >>> already categorized with a toc on the main page. >>> >> >> The other FAQ on the website is also categorized: >> http://www.openoffice.org/faq.html >> >> So whatever direction we start from we'll probably want to update and >> consolidate. >> >> In my personal opinion, mdtext on the website is a good solution here. >> But my opinion takes a back seat when someone else actually volunteers >> to do the work. So if you prefer the wiki for this, then you have a >> +1 from me. I'd just recommend that you fold in anything good from >> the existing website into the wiki, so we have can have a single FAQ >> for the project. >> >> Oh, actually we have a few other FAQs: >> >> http://openoffice.apache.org/community-faqs.html >> >> http://openoffice.apache.org/developer-faqs.html >> >> http://openoffice.apache.org/pmc-faqs.html >> >> Maybe a simplifying assumption could be: >> >> 1) We make the MWiki FAQ's be the user-facing FAQs about the product >> and the project >> >> 2) We have the "internal" project-facing FAQ's on >> openoffice.apache.org website, in their current mdtext format. >> >> -Rob >> >>> Regards >>> Keith >>> >>> >> > Rob; > > Though your simplifying assumption appears on the surface to be a good > compromise the process engineer in me says I see a potential maintenance > disaster looming. It creates essentially two different processes with > different tools to accomplish the same basic task something that I prefer to > avoid if possible. By using one or the other you cut down on the training > necessary to bring new people up to speed and you centralize the maintenance > and lessen the chance that something slips under the radar. >
We already have different tools and different processes: static HTML, static mdtext and wiki. I'm proposing reducing it from 3 to 2. As far as process goes, I think the product-related questions will generally be updated by those interested in documentation and support. But the project-related questions -- the ones currently on openoffice.apache.org -- will probably be updated by the PMC. I think those questions, which deal with project membership, process definition, etc., are quasi-official in nature and it is not a bad thing if editing them is harder and more restricted than editing a public wiki. And let's not forget the harsh transition that some has navigating from an openoffice.apache.org web page to the wiki. The look is different and there is no context or reverse navigation. The user has been teleported into another galaxy. I sometimes wonder whether we should move *all* of the openoffice.apache.org website contents onto the www.openoffice.org website, and work to unify the look and feel of the other pieces, a larger reworking of: 1) Move openoffice.apache.org onto www.openoffice.org 2) Move all CWiki pages into MWiki 3) Setup redirect of blog from blogs.apache.org/ooo to blog.openoffice.org What we have now is very fragmented. But that is a topic for another day.... > I already know what kind of shape the documentation section of the wiki is > in. Let me take a look at the FAQ's on the web site and see how far out of > date they are. It may be that rewriting the user ones in dtet may make more > sense. > Sounds good. -Rob > Regards > Keith > > >
