[documentation] 'Last updated' information on handbook pages?

[Mr. Meitar Moscovitz]

On Jun 5, 2008, at 6:09 PM, Steven Jones wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Showing the last updated time doesn't show you that the page is up  
> to date, it only shows you how out of date it could be. If I fix a  
> typo on a page, then having that date displayed will make it look  
> like that was the last date that the content was checked for accuracy.
>
> So while on the surface a good idea, I'm not sure how misleading the  
> information could be.

Hi,

If this were me—and I do realize I'm probably not a very good example  
of a typical user persona—and I read a page that was somewhat out of  
date but saw a recent last-modified time stamp on the page, I would  
check the revisions tab to see what the last couple of revision log  
messages are. Hopefully there will actually be some revision log  
message there that just says "Fixed typo", so I'd be able to quickly  
see what the latest major update/change was. If not, I'd probably run  
a diff.

Since, (if I understand correctly) all visitors logged in with a d.o  
user account (doc team members or otherwise) have access to the  
revisions tab, I don't think it's too misleading in these cases to add  
a last-modified time stamp. The information is in the worst case  
*somewhat* misleading but in the best case *very* helpful, so I think  
adding this time stamp seems like an overall net win for visitors.  
Plus, if users get upset about seeing mismatched time stamps to out of  
date pages, perhaps they will be encouraged to add more issues that  
notify us of this fact!

My two cents….

Cheers,
--
-Meitar Moscovitz
Drupal: http://drupal.org/user/265715
Personal: http://maymay.net
Professional: http://MeitarMoscovitz.com

> On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 12:47 AM, Nathaniel Catchpole <catch56 at googlemail.com 
> > wrote:
> The idea came up in this thread on the development list: http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/development/2008-June/030088.html 
>  (which is more about documentation than development).
>
> I think it's a good one - display last updated information on all  
> handbook pages. It'd be one line to add in Bluebeach, and it  
> immediately helps with evaluating whether a page is up to date or not.
>
> Is there any reason not to do this?
>
> Nat
>
> --
> Pending work: http://drupal.org/project/issues/documentation/
> List archives: http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/
>
>
>
> -- 
> Regards
> Steven Jones --
> Pending work: http://drupal.org/project/issues/documentation/
> List archives: http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/documentation/
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