[documentation] The handbook organization

[Addi]

Hi there,

I'm relatively new to Drupal (about 4 months) and have just been reading 
the doc list for a few weeks to get a sense of things with the intention 
of jumping in to help at some point. I don't have lots of time for a 
detailed response right now but just wanted to put out a quick thought.

I agree that teaching new folks *how* to find what they need can be the 
biggest help to provide. Perhaps we can consider creating something like 
a "How to Use this handbook/Site" or "How to find the info you need" 
type of section (maybe under About Drupal?). Here we could explain 
searching the handbook, using IRC and things like how to ask questions 
so they are more likely to be answered and such. I know some things are 
covered scattered throughout but maybe a one-stop overview would be good 
for new folks, especially those not familiar with online communities or 
Open Source projects. Anyway, I will keep up the discussion and think 
about it more.

Also, what's up with the "My family - one donkey's leg" 
<http://drupal.org/node/81455> in the Installation section? :)

Thanks
Addi

Steven Peck wrote:
>
> Greetings all.
>
> There is a post in the distant past that explains the concepts of how 
> and why the handbooks are ordered the way they are. Printed out I 
> believe Gunner Langmark said they were a thousand pages. So for those 
> new to the list, let's just bring folks up to speed with memories 
> rather then digging through the archive.
>
> The About Drupal was to contain the history, what we are, misc 
> references to pretty sites any marketing and some general knowledge 
> stuff that didn't fit anywhere but were common questions. One recent 
> idea is that System requirements might be better there. Thoughts? If 
> so, we can move it. It's easy with the handy dandy book module :D
>
> The installation and configuration guide is not actually meant as the 
> beginners guide to Drupal. IT can be if you start at the beginning and 
> click next. You will progress through requirements, installation, 
> general configuration to core modules then contrib modules. Tossing in 
> the Troubleshooting FAQ for the common issue's and updating. This 
> section was meant as a reference and a resource.
>
> The customization and theming was meant as the bits and pieces that 
> others had contributed that you could use to make a site your own. It 
> was not my original idea but someone else's that I merely organized 
> into logical divisions. It to is a resource.
>
> The developers handbook has always been a fairly organic thing. The 
> first pass organization was to try and organize it so that it was in a 
> logical context with other related items. It has been tuned on a 
> regular basis and some of the older content has been edited and 
> consolidated over the past several months.
>
> So. What's missing. The same thing that has always been missing. 
> Tutorials. Site-recipes was an attempt to get people a place to put 
> things. Bits and pieces or complete how to's. We still need tutorials. 
> We still need a beginners manual. I always thought of a beginners 
> manual as a sequential series of steps with links to more expanded 
> content in the other books as needed. To help train people how to find 
> information. A lot of people that we get have little to no idea how to 
> research so we have to help them. That's why I answer with a series of 
> links to the relevant documentation so often in the forums. I am not 
> saying rtm, I am showing How to find the information so they can ask 
> better questions next time. Some of these folks are obvious part time 
> guys (power users or soon to be power users) and by teaching them the 
> process they can use any IT / Internet resource more effectively.
>
> Now I remember several of us being told by several people (rather 
> forcefully) that we didn’t understand anything and how they were going 
> to do it better and they were going to show everyone and setup this 
> site with all this documentation for new people. It's been eight 
> months now and I still don't see it so whatever efforts they made are 
> lost. So I will say again what I said then. If someone writes it, we 
> will find a place for it. If you have pictures, we can load them up. 
> In the beginning it would reside in the Installation and configuration 
> handbook but as it gained content (with the magic of Drupal book 
> module) we can easily add another book and have it reside there. This 
> will be of benefit to everyone.
>
> I had hoped to have time to finish this series 
> (_http://www.blkmtn.org/book/drupal_) and go through an entire WINK 
> presentation but frankly my workload has been far more insane this 
> year then predicted. On the bright side, our new director is tired of 
> us working 2-3 weekends a month as well as evening hours all the time 
> and is bringing on new people to reduce the workload. (whew). On the 
> other plus side my wife is 5 months pregnant with our second, but this 
> means a little less time with Drupal this winter (She likes that I do 
> this, it's a hobby that keeps me home)
>
> So…. It's been eight months since I re-did the handbook…. Anyone tried 
> 4.8/5.0? Thoughts, suggestions? It's a bit different. I have some 
> rather radical thoughts but really want to hear other people's 
> suggestions first.
>
> Steven
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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-- 
/Addi Berry/
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addi at rocktreesky.com
www.rocktreesky.com <http://www.rocktreesky.com>