[drupal-docs] Where do I start

[puregin]

Hi Dan,

      I can totally relate to what you are saying.
I think that the answer to most of the questions in your
first post is "we're trying to figure it out".

     I believe that Boris was one of the prime instigators
of the current documentation push - some of his
motivations and vision are chronicled at the Bryght
pages:  http://dev.bryght.com.

     This list is archived at lists.drupal.org, which may
give you a little historical context, or just a headache,
as Judah recently cautioned :)

     Here's my (no doubt biased, in-accurate, and
historically limited) view of what's been going on.
Everyone, please clarify/amplify/correct!

     Current/recent discussions:

         - How do we proceed?
            - process for creating new handbook
         - Survey - what do people want from Drupal 
Documentation/suggestions
         - Where should new documentation be kept
               Bryght?  Drupal.org?  elsewhere?
         - In what format should new documentation be kept
               HTML?  DocBook
         - Style guides for new documentation
         - Tools to support writing, editing process; for reading 
documentation
               Wiki vs. Drupal Book module; pros and cons
               Suggestions for improvements to book module

      Something I personally feel I'm missing is a sense of what exactly
we're trying to do in documentation.   I think that Kieran's survey will
address this.

      My own interest is in working on methods and Drupal-based
tools for collaborative editing of technical documents for print
and HTML output, and applying these to pull together the
Drupal Handbook.

      Others have stated that the principal goal is web-based 
documentation.

      Looking at the present Drupal handbook, it's a bit of a mish-mash.
It's partly a FAQ, partly a collection of Hacks, partly a manual.   
There's
information in the handbook, in comments to the handbook, in forums,
in the mailing list archives, and embedded in the code in the form of
help text;  additional programmer's documentation is available at
the drupaldocs.org project - this is mostly automatically generated from
the code via Doxygen, I believe?

        Cheers, Djun



On 27 Apr 2005, at 10:00 AM, Dan Robinson wrote:

> Hmmm.... resounding silence..... what is a community member to do?
> After posting my last message I found the wiki pages at Bryght, however
> I must say that it had a certain "guess you had to be there" feel to it
> (wrt - the phone calls etc.).  Is there some high level description of
> what the goals and objectives are for this effort - timeline?   I will
> assume that I'm not getting an answer because a) my mail isn't going
> through, b) I'm a known idiot within the community, c) people are just
> too busy, d) the answers to all my questions are so easy to find that 
> b)
> above must be true.
>
> :)
>
> Dan
>
>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> I've poked around a little but I don't seem to be able to find what
>> I'm looking for -
>>
>> 1) Is there a "roadmap" for the documentation effort?
>> 2) Is there a repository of work in progress?
>> 3) Is there a guide for how people can contribute to this effort?
>>
>> Thanks from a newbie.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Dan
>
> -- 
>