Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2002 10:40:56 -0500 From: Eric Anderson <anderson@centtech.com> To: Ross Lippert <ripper@eskimo.com> Cc: blackend@freebsd.org, cjuniet@entreview.com, freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: docs/41106: FreeBSD Handbook lacks "Desktop Applications" chapter. Message-ID: <3D4E9C88.7040308@centtech.com> References: <200208051455.HAA18220@eskimo.com>
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Great points! I totally agree. Instead of having everyone scripting their own html on pages randomly across the net, why don't we do something like this: Make a website with a "db" backend (no SQL of course, just plain and simple) for the "Port Mongers" or whatever to go to, fill in their information about a particular port, their experience, love, etc. They submit it, and a small number of people "moderate" it - now don't get excited about that word. What I mean by that is, basically read it and check for things like typos, spelling, simple grammer mistakes, etc, prior to "committing" it - something similar to the FreeBSD committers system already tried and tested. Then, all ports info will be in one place, with a common look/feel, and can be updated by the originator if need be. How does that sound? If it sounds like the right path, I can whip this up and get us started. Eric Ross Lippert wrote: [..snip..] > I'm more a fan of diaries, where someone says "I did something neat, > here is what it looks like, here's howto", and perhaps someone writes > back and says "here's a neater way to do it". I'm not envisioning a > diary here, but I am thinking about something which is unashamedly > personally biased. > > It is important to maintain some standards, maybe docproj styles > articles. You must not just love the app but love writing good > documentation and have a willingness to maintain what you write and > maybe combine it with other stuff. > > There was some discussion about a "multimedia" chapter which I started > writing a few months ago (recall my mplayer example). Feedback I got from > it indicated that if one starts off with a "multimedia" type chapter, then > one is basically talking about ports and how to use them, and where and > how that belongs in the handbook is controversial. Probably right. But > I still can't help the urge to want to trumpet this and other video apps > I came to enjoy. > > Since we are proposing an experiment, and since the contents will be > biased (in either review or testimonial form), perhaps we should start > by putting up little articles on our own homepages, and convincing > others on doc to do so, make september the "write about your fav app > month". We can submit URLs to be linked to from FreeBSD.org, and if > it takes off and we end up with an explosion of articles (say by > January or else assume we failed), we move to phase II, which > necessarily involves more indexing and organization, perhaps more > automated feedback to authors. If momentum keeps up, I don't see why > it could not be made part of freebsd.org or the /usr/doc as long as a > big fat disclaimer for bias is present. Not to mention that if this > experiment ever becomes "official" we can ask people involved in projects > or port-maintainers if they wouldn't mind jotting down some power-user > notes on their apps. > > How does that sound to you? > > Oh another source for "good ports" info: > I think bsdtoday.org has some howto's on it for things like VMWare and > stuff, but I'm sure it is just an archive with no one maintaining it > -- yet it remains my first resource for setting up VMWare, I know no > other. There should be another. > -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Anderson Systems Administrator Centaur Technology For Sale: Parachute. Only used once, never opened, small stain. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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