Date: Wed, 25 Jun 97 15:11:28 From: "Francisco Reyes" <francisco@natserv.com> To: "FreeBSD Chat List" <chat@freebsd.org> Cc: "doc@FreeBSD.ORG" <doc@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: FreeBSD documentation (was: OS/2 users going to FreeBSD?) Message-ID: <199706251908.PAA07603@federation.addy.com>
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On Wed, 25 Jun 1997 13:28:51 -0500 (EST), John Fieber wrote: >On Wed, 25 Jun 1997, Francisco Reyes wrote: >I'll see what I can do to documenting and streamline the >submission policy. I think a template SGML document and a documented sample would go a long way. Last time I tried I remember I downloaded some of the existing SGML and could not make much sense of them. >The best info at the moment is http://www.freebsd.org/docproj.html, but it isn't very prominent >and could use a lot more "how to" information. The page is actually not bad at all, but I am wondering if there shouldn't be more prominence on the pages that direct users on how to help the project. I am sure that somewhere in the FAQ and Handbook it points out to that docproj page, but why not have right there in the main "www.freebsd.org". How about a page with links on how to help: the "How to Help the FreeBSD project page". This page could simply be links to sections of the FAQ and Handbook. >It may be better to de-emphasize issues of document format. If >the *content* is good, I really don't care what the format >is--SGML tagging is fairly mindless work. True, but it still takes time (your time or someone's elses time). I still think that a documented SGML template can go a long way. >Unfortunatly, good programming skill and good technical writing skill seem to be >mutually exclusive in practice. I am sure there are many people like myself, who are neither great at either, but are willing to improve at both. It is taking me a long time to get truly familiar with FreeBSD, but little by little I find myself doing a little more every day on it. I am even thinking of trying to use it for all my Internet needs (currently using OS/2 for that). >The FreeBSD crowd tends to have a lot more programmers than writers. This is going back to the "Desktop vs Server" issue. If FreeBSD is mostly used as a server then the people who use it will be mostly technical. If we can get it to be a bit easier to use then we may get many more people to use it as a desktop and THOSE are the people who may help us with the writing.
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