Re: Website CMS questions
"Tony Byrne - CMS Watch" <tbyrne-xROWbLetBU9Wk0Htik3J/[email protected]> Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:22:28 -0500
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.cms.cms-forum.general |
|---|---|
| Organization | CMSWatch |
| Message-ID | <002e01c6fd08$c453f4c0$6e05a8c0@tbyrne> |
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --===============0960610864== Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_002F_01C6FCDE.DB7DECC0" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_002F_01C6FCDE.DB7DECC0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi- Ed makes an excellent point about vendor documentation. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] On Behalf Of Ed Kapuscinski Rhythmyx has man undocumented features, some of which are NOT covered in training --------------------------------- Here is an excerpt from our report on this issue. Documentation It's possible to generalize about the state of documentation of most CMS products in this report: it's bad. Among most open source projects and some commercial vendors, documentation is very, very bad. In general, you should not rely on the vendor's documentation to teach, or even explain, or even document adequately, how a system works. Instead, invest in formal training (for both developers and contributors), and cultivating relationships with developers at the vendor, as well as other licensees of the product in your own industry. Some vendors have acknowledged the difficulty in keeping their support documents up-todate and have developed various types of knowledgebases to capture and update more information in a useful, searchable way. Not all knowledgebases are very knowledgeable, but among some vendors, they are good enough that customers have learned to check there first. You should request guest access and check it out before you sign any contract. (p. 93 Ent. Edition) ---------------------- Cheers! ---------------------------------------------- Tony Byrne Silver Spring, MD USA Founder, CMS Watch V: +1 301 585 7004 Technology Evaluation Reports http://www.cmswatch.com/Reports/ ------=_NextPart_000_002F_01C6FCDE.DB7DECC0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3Dus-ascii"> <TITLE>Message</TITLE> <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2900.2963" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff size=3D2><SPAN=20 class=3D662330716-31102006>Hi-</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff size=3D2><SPAN=20 class=3D662330716-31102006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff size=3D2><SPAN = class=3D662330716-31102006>Ed=20 makes an excellent point about vendor documentation. = </SPAN></FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px = solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV></DIV> <DIV class=3DOutlookMessageHeader lang=3Den-us dir=3Dltr = align=3Dleft><FONT=20 face=3DTahoma size=3D2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>=20 [email protected] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Ed=20 Kapuscinski<BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006><FONT face=3DArial = color=3D#0000ff=20 size=3D2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006> </SPAN>Rhythmyx has man = undocumented=20 features, some of which are NOT covered in training<SPAN=20 class=3D662330716-31102006><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff=20 size=3D2> </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006><FONT face=3DArial = color=3D#0000ff=20 size=3D2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006><FONT face=3DArial = color=3D#0000ff=20 size=3D2>---------------------------------</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006><FONT face=3DArial = color=3D#0000ff size=3D2>Here=20 is an excerpt from our report on this issue.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006></SPAN> </DIV><SPAN=20 class=3D662330716-31102006><B><I> <P align=3Dleft>Documentation</P></B></I> <P align=3Dleft>It’s possible to generalize about the state of = documentation of=20 most CMS products in this</P> <P align=3Dleft>report: it’s bad. Among most open source = projects and some=20 commercial vendors,</P> <P align=3Dleft>documentation is very, very bad. In general, you = should not rely=20 on the vendor’s</P> <P align=3Dleft>documentation to teach, or even explain, or even = document=20 adequately, how a system works.</P> <P align=3Dleft>Instead, invest in formal training (for both = developers and=20 contributors), and cultivating</P> <P align=3Dleft>relationships with developers at the vendor, as well = as other=20 licensees of the product in your</P> <P align=3Dleft>own industry.</P> <P align=3Dleft>Some vendors have acknowledged the difficulty in = keeping their=20 support documents up-todate</P> <P align=3Dleft>and have developed various types of knowledgebases to = capture=20 and update more</P> <P align=3Dleft>information in a useful, searchable way. Not all = knowledgebases=20 are very knowledgeable, but</P> <P align=3Dleft>among some vendors, they are good enough that = customers have=20 learned to check there first.</P> <P align=3Dleft>You should request guest access and check it out = before you sign=20 any contract.</P> <DIV>(p. 93 Ent. Edition)</DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff size=3D2><SPAN=20 class=3D662330716-31102006>----------------------</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#0000ff size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006>Cheers!</SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=3D662330716-31102006><FONT face=3DArial = color=3D#0000ff=20 size=3D2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><!-- Converted from text/plain format --><FONT face=3DArial = color=3D#0000ff=20 size=3D2></FONT><BR> <P><FONT = size=3D2>----------------------------------------------<BR>Tony=20 = Byrne &n= bsp; =20 Silver Spring, MD USA<BR>Founder, CMS=20 Watch V: +1 301 = 585=20 7004<BR><BR>Technology Evaluation Reports<BR><A=20 = href=3D"http://www.cmswatch.com/Reports/">http://www.cmswatch.com/Reports= /</A></FONT>=20 </P></SPAN></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_002F_01C6FCDE.DB7DECC0-- --===============0960610864== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline