hmm, on Sat, Nov 26, 2005 at 01:55:33AM +0100, Emil Henry Flakk said that
> On 11/25/05, Nick Holland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<snip Nick for now>
> This should be added to the OpenBSD FAQ ASAP.
not it shouldn't. and maybe tongue in cheek but quite rude.
it contains a lot of flame and Nick should at least spellcheck
for the subject if nothing mor[sic] ;-)
> > 1) Distribute your document in PDF file format.
Nick's hate against pdf clouds his reason apparently.
pdf is a perfect format for technical documentation and
papers. go and shout at people who publish their paper
in .ps and .pdf . having said that i don't agree with
publishing _only_ in .pdf . all the formats have their use.
> > Besides, it is funny to watch people for whom English is not their first
> > language think "howto" is a valid English word, and is often used with a
> > question mark at the end ("Howto get my mouse working?"), as a
> > replacement for "how do I ...?".
making fun of people's language abilities is quite rude.
you misspelled the subject, how does that shine for a native speaker?
and does that make you stupid? of course not. just a simple mistake.
> > 6) Good formatting and pretty graphics mean more than actual content.
> > Obviously, if your page LOOKS good, it must be good. Complex things
> > like CSS and browser-specific tricks are great! Compared to the lame
> > OpenBSD website, you will look like an absolute authority!
what a beautiful argument. is css complex for you? am truly sorry for that.
everybody knows that openbsd is famous for its code quality.
does that mean that their pages must be ugly? of course not.
sometimes it almost looks like people here take pride in
just how ugly the openbsd site is. yes it is. of course
that's subjective and if nothing else, serves its mission
(give information) 100%. but that doesn't mean it must hurt
the eye. there are people here at misc@ who work with
typography and graphics and so on (raise your hand please),
and i have a feeling they don't agree that openbsd must have
debian-ugly pages made by c hackers in 1995 who hate html
and think "design" is for pussies.
and the signal from the great hackers is that they don't care
about design at all, so nobody will even try. but that's
fine, i am not really complaining. but you know what,
i will propose one shortly just in spite. i will write history.
and yes, documentation _can_ be nice and it's not a sin.
and no, the pages do not validate. can follow hundreds
of standards in the source tree but can't follow 2-5
(depending on what you do) with (x)html.
where are my patches?
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=openbsd-bugs&m=102508555325610&w=2
apparently Nick is not too interested in validation but don't worry,
i will send those patches anyway.
> > Ah, you will note that I failed my own list here, as I called this a
> > HOWTO, but provided way too much explanation about why you should follow
> > these tips. Hey, writing sucky documentation is a difficult skill!
> >
> > (hopefully, the tongue-in-cheek (or head-in-toilet) nature of the above
> > was obvious.)
and soooo encouraging for the future authors to be.
like really Nick, i understand your frustration, but have you
ever heard "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"?
people learn and hopefully realize their mistakes.
but not because you are making them ridiculous.
-f
--
experience is nothing but a lot of mistakes.
