[documentation] [Documentation task] We should re-work the 'Contribute' link.

Fri Sep 15 07:19:29 UTC 2006

Issue status update for 
http://drupal.org/node/84172
Post a follow up: 
http://drupal.org/project/comments/add/84172

 Project:      Documentation
 Version:      <none>
 Component:    Misc
 Category:     tasks
 Priority:     normal
 Assigned to:  webchick
 Reported by:  webchick
 Updated by:   sepeck
 Status:       active

all pages aliased on the top level too.  /contribute, then
contribute/support, contirbute/development, etc....  We used Page type
content rather then the handbook as once they are written I don't see
them being revisisted except occasionally.

sepeck

Previous comments:
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Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:08:32 +0000 : webchick

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/contributions idea.pdf (104.66 KB)

Back at OSCMS in Vancouver, a gentleman (I believe Dale?) pointed out to
me that the "Contribute" section is rather un-friendly for new users. As
someone who genuinely wanted to contribute to Drupal, he was stuck
scratching his head about what to do with the plethora of links. There's
no real indication of "context" in terms of what these links are
actually for, nor a sense of "first do this, then do that." For some
reason I forgot about this until just now. :P

So here's an alternate idea of spiffying this up a little. It's in PDF
form just because it was easier for me to mock this up in Illustrator in
4 minutes than actually doing it. ;)

So basically, this page becomes a "jump-off" page to all the various
ways you can contribute to the project, and then each sub-page contains
more specific information. The "Contribute to documentation" page, for
example, would talk about how people should first join the documentation
mailing list, about the overall goal to incorporate comments into
handbook pages, and various tools we can use to gauge what are popular
pages, etc.

Thoughts?

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Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:15:43 +0000 : webchick

a) Someone with actual graphic design skills should tweak the graphics,
colours, etc. :P

b) There would also be other sections like "Developing," "Testing,"
"Donating," etc. I was just trying to mock up something quickly.

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Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:43:23 +0000 : Gary Feldman

I like it - a lot.

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Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:51:37 +0000 : Michelle

I love it. If we go this route, and if people want to go with my
handbook change in http://drupal.org/node/84169  (shameless plug *grin*)
it would be nice if the same designer could do both. What webchick
mocked up (design-wise, not content) is exactly what I was going for on
the top level page of the handbooks so having them match would be great.

Michelle

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Thu, 14 Sep 2006 23:23:49 +0000 : webchick

Ok, I've started a new handbook section for this here:
http://drupal.org/node/84228

Just the text for now; I figure we'll tweak that and then work in the
graphics later.

If folks want to help flesh out the other sub-pages that would be cool.
I've done the user support one to start.

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Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:17:01 +0000 : sepeck

The text appears fine for the most part.  I do think the the Header lead
in should be changed from 'Thank You!' to 'Welcome'.  The first
paragraph text then has the Thank you, etc.

The second paragraph uses the word 'newbies', why can't we just use the
phrase 'Even the most gifted Drupal developers were new once,' without
the slang word 'newbies'?  I am not sure how 'newbies' translates across
languages.

We don't have any big spots of color anywhere else on Drupal so if you
want that, I suggest chatting with Steve Whittens.  Otherwise all the
other pages use two colum bodies to do present this info using <div
class="column-left"> and <div class="column-right"> in the page itself
and I think we should remain consistent with that look.

Once we agree on the text, etc I can make the change.

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Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:40:49 +0000 : webchick

thanks, sepeck! those changes were incorporated into the text. I also
added the links right below the sections.

Another thing we talked about on IRC is that this doesn't really make
sense as a book, but should rather be a series of pages. since I don't
have the ability to create pages, Steven has offered to do that for me.
:)

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Fri, 15 Sep 2006 02:07:06 +0000 : Gary Feldman

I'm not bothered by the slang /newbies/.  Having some colloquial
language can make the text feel friendlier, and Merriam-Webster
(m-w.com) lists it without describing it as nonstandard or slang.  Just
avoid the leet spelling (i.e., /noob/ or /n00b/), which isn't phonetic
and harder to find.

Translation shouldn't be an issue.  After all, /newbie/ is essentially
synonymous with /tyro/ and close enough to /beginner/, yet we wouldn't
worry about translating either of those.  Since this isn't fiction,
capturing the informal connotation of /newbie/ in a translation isn't
mandatory.

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Fri, 15 Sep 2006 03:49:27 +0000 : Michelle

For those who aren't following along on IRC, webchick's awesome new
pages are now under the contribute link (  http://drupal.org/contribute
) and not in the handbook as stated in #4.

Michelle

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Fri, 15 Sep 2006 04:08:40 +0000 : webchick

Also, the user support, documentation, and donation "how to contribute"
pages are basically done. May need editing.

I'm going to need some help on the translations and marketing ones. I
am working on the developer one now, and can probably take testing too.