Date: 30 Jun 2000 21:32:40 +0200 From: Rasmus Kaj <kaj@raditex.se> To: jim@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: Rasmus Kaj <kaj@raditex.se> Subject: Re: New User's Handbook Message-ID: <84d7kz55if.fsf@frodo.sickla.raditex.se> In-Reply-To: Jim Mock's message of "Fri, 30 Jun 2000 12:06:08 -0700" References: <20000630120608.A5841@luna.osd.bsdi.com>
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>>>>> "JM" == Jim Mock <jim@FreeBSD.ORG> writes: JM> Howdy folks, JM> Since sending the last message on the New User's Handbook, I haven't JM> gotten *any* replies.. has anyone looked at it? It's available at JM> http://soupnazi.org/~jim/FreeBSD/newuser-handbook/ Ok, here come's a little comment ... I don't really see who the intended reader is here. Anoyone interested in the history and goals of the project probably already know so much that he don't need the "Unix basics" chapter. So, you should either focus on the "Unix basics" part and make a one-page introduction of chapters one to four, or assume the reader knows some unix, but is new to FreeBSD. I would make an appendix of chapter six, and assume most readers know it anyway ... So, what would a new user, knowing some Unix, need? Here's a few items * An introduction to the ports and packages system. * Some words about /etc/rc.conf, other startup scripts etc, and about /stand/sysinstall. * A firm voice telling them not to run -current, and probably some introduction to the mailing lists. And one other thing; Do every document _have_ _to_ start with a full page of copyright information? Why not have a paragraph of introducing text, supposed to make people want to read the document, not scare them away (the handbook has such a paragraph, but it's squeezed in between the copyright line and the page of legal terms). How about putting things like this instead: <h1>Document title</h1> <h2>Author (or "FreeBSD doc project")</h2> A paragraph of text, telling how nice and usefull it would be to read this document. ------------------- (dividing hr) ------------------------------ Table Of Contents. ... ------------------- (dividing hr) ------------------------------ <h2>Legal terms</h2> Redistribution and use in source (SGML DocBook) ... and all that If we do this, people might even start to read the documentation. :-) -- Rasmus Kaj -------------------- rasmus@kaj.se - http://Raditex.se/~kaj/ \ Where ever I place my .emacs, is my ${HOME}. -LysLysKom \------------------------------------------------- http://Raditex.se/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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