[drupal-docs] Where do I start

[Anisa]

puregin wrote:

>     This list is archived at lists.drupal.org, which may
>give you a little historical context, or just a headache,
>as Judah recently cautioned :)
>
>  
>
That's true!  Don't bother with the archive.  ;)

>     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?
>  
>
Documentation will be at Drupal.org; there were discussions of putting 
CivicSpace and Bryght in with it.

>         - In what format should new documentation be kept
>               HTML?  DocBook
>  
>
The DocBook discussion has ended.  ;)  Developing it on the side would 
probably be appreciated by some people but is not the current focus.

>         - Style guides for new documentation
>  
>
Almost done!  OK, in this case the archive might be helpful (there are a 
couple of threads on Style Guide)

>         - Tools to support writing, editing process; for reading 
>documentation
>               Wiki vs. Drupal Book module; pros and cons
>               Suggestions for improvements to book module
>
>  
>
Without developers interested in improving the book module any time 
soon, 'improving' the book module has become more 'coping' with the book 
module.  If we use a combination of revisions in the book module and the 
mailing list, we can probably get along without a wiki.  Everyone here 
is interested in cooperation, after all.  ;)

>      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.
>
>  
>
We are trying to make the handbook readable, useful, and consistent, 
while streamling the process of collaboration.  I think.

>      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?
>  
>
The stuff in DrupalDocs is automagically generated.

Anisa.