From owner-freebsd-doc Mon Jul 1 13:50:35 1996 Return-Path: owner-doc Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id NAA08677 for doc-outgoing; Mon, 1 Jul 1996 13:50:35 -0700 (PDT) Received: from freenet.hamilton.on.ca (main.freenet.hamilton.on.ca [199.212.94.65]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id NAA08661; Mon, 1 Jul 1996 13:50:27 -0700 (PDT) Received: from james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca (james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca [199.212.94.66]) by freenet.hamilton.on.ca (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id QAA12808; Mon, 1 Jul 1996 16:50:20 -0400 Received: (ac199@localhost) by james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca (8.6.12/8.6.12) id QAA24619; Mon, 1 Jul 1996 16:51:56 -0400 Date: Mon, 1 Jul 1996 16:51:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Tim Vanderhoek To: "Julian H. Stacey" cc: doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: share/doc/FAQ/obj/freebsd-faq.html In-Reply-To: <199607011633.SAA13589@vector.jhs.no_domain> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-doc@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Mon, 1 Jul 1996, Julian H. Stacey wrote: > Style & Colloquialisms: ... > 7.6. Printer too slow: how to speed it up./ > Colloquial `slow as a dog' is fine for native English speakers, > but is it obvious to a Chinese or Brazilian etc ? I think only as many colloquialisms as are necessary to make it readable for non-english readers should be removed. In some instances it may be possible to make the meaning clear while maintaining the nice expressions. > Daft answers don't deserve to clutter the index & waste space forever: > Delete: > `7.20. Has anyone done any temperature testing.....' > the question is debatable, the answer is just wasted space. > Delete `7.21 ...memory to make a scratchy sound?...' > The answer is wasted space, & doesnt even mention > the floppy media sensing head seeks in the bios. Bah! Go away! Those are nice questions! However, they do clutter it up terribly. I think the proper solution is to reorganize the index to the questions. Some things, such as the questions regarding the ATI Mach64 & sio3 confict do _NOT_ need to take up half-a-page just to INDEX the question. I think perhaps some sort of "question hierarchy" with no more than 10 selections in each section would make a better index than the current (dare-I-call-it) mumbo-jumbo. > Reorder the words in the FAQ sections titles, > similar to the way a stores list of engineering components is listed, > so that the index is visually scannable fast & easily. EG: > Printer, colour, driver: fails when blah blah > Printer, postscript: filters available > Printer, parallel port: interrupt config > Printer, serial: interface parameters Such a technical approach to it scares me. Rather, I would have a section `hardware problems'. `Hardware Problems' would then link to a subsection listing another 4-10 subsubsections. One of those would be `Printer Problems'. Basically, just going from a list of general categories to a list of more specific categories, and eventually to a list of actual questions. Each list limited to 4-10 entries. > Changes would require some small departure from the traditional net news FAQ > format, but that was typically just a collection of Q & A's slung together > by one person. There are the leaders and the followers! :) > This is intended as constructive criticism, hoping not to annoy anyone, > Yes, I too find the FAQ useful even as is, Thanks :-) I look at the INDEX for the FAQ, and I'm scared... It's ugly... :( -- Outnumbered? Maybe. Outspoken? Never! tIM...HOEk