[documentation] The handbook organization

[Greg Knaddison - GVS]

On 8/30/06, Kieran Lal <kieran at civicspacelabs.org> wrote:
> Second, much of what needs to be improved in the handbook is evident from
> the summary pages we have put together.
> http://drupal.org/handbook/comments  -- handbook pages with
> comments
>  - mostly advanced development topics which indicates a need for strong
> technical editing
> http://drupal.org/moderation-queue --moderation queue
>  -again more advanced development topics

Good points, though I fear that developers don't like reviewing
handbook pages so perhaps a monthly report to the development list
linking to these items and requesting reviews would be helpful  (like
I believe you had done previously, Kieran).  Augustin (beginner) has
good luck with his reports of "neglected issue queues" so a monthly
report to development saying "these handbook pages need a technical
review, go spend 15 minutes on them" would be helpful.

> http://drupal.org/handbook/most-popular-pages -- most
> popular
>  -Most popular continues to be dominated by about Drupal, installing Drupal,
> basic configuration, and upgrading.   Site recipes only has 50K page views,
> Drupal gallery has 120K indicating that there is not a strong a demand for
> this information as other information.

This is kind of circular, though, isn't it? sepeck feels we need more
tutorials because that section is weak.  You are saying that people
don't like it so why bother.  Maybe people don't like it because the
section is weak - if we had some kickass tutorials/recipes then it
would be a more popular section, right?

>
> Third, most popular search terms should be incorporated into the handbook
> design.  Perhaps a frequently updated tag cloud.
>  Anonymous users: # cck (193) , # filemanager (155) , # tinymce (143) , #
> flexinode (142) , # gallery (131)
>  Authenticated users:     * cck (136), * sort flexinode (90), * customizing
> login (79), * views (70), * TinyMCE (67)
>

That would be a pretty neat page.  We go to google trends and alexa
for data all the time - why not expose our own search data?  Please
send me the details of how you currently collect that data - I'd enjoy
making a php snippet to output it on a page.

> I'd rather see more videos addressing About Drupal, Installing Drupal, and
> basic configuration.

I recently discussed "drupal vs. joomla" with someone who was new to
the whole concept of CMS.  His comment was basically "well, I looked
at the two communities and while everything I read said that Drupal
was better and while Joomla occasionally meant I had to pay to get
stuff, I started using Joomla because the tutorials/videos/etc. made
it easier for me to get down to business."

In addition to improving the documentation, my vote is to improve the
discoverability of some of these sections.  I'll bet that the
community tab on drupal.org is not clicked very often.  How about
replacing that with a "tutorials" tab that points to a handbook page?
If people don't think that the top level link is worth changing, how
about a menu item for a couple of these more important topics.
Currently we spend menu space on "New Forum Topics" and "Who's Online"
neither of which seems as important to me as some links to "Tutorials"
and some other handbook pages.

Greg

-- 
Greg Knaddison | Growing Venture Solutions
Denver, CO | http://growingventuresolutions.com
Technology Solutions for Communities, Individuals, and Small Businesses