IDEA :: Inline User Docs Window

"Doug Daulton \(Apakuni\)" <[email protected]> Fri, 14 Mar 2003 09:59:26 -0500
Newsgroups gmane.comp.cms.xaraya.documentation
Organization Xaraya News Server
Message-ID <[email protected]>
In keeping with my other "in-context" content approval idea, I was wondering
about the inline docs fold in the Admin UI.  Are those hard-coded in the
scripts?  Or, are they stored in the DB and called when the admin UI is
called?

If the latter, I wonder how hard it would be to add a text box form in that
space that would allow testers/doc-writers to simply write the relevant
support docs in line there and then save them to the docs tables.  I think
it would expedite user doc development.

Possible issues include ...
************************
1. As the docs are stored in the DB, to apply BK source control I suppose we
would need a script that, on post/change, exports the help tables to a SQL
doc and then pushes them to the repos.

2. Folks pulling down the tarball but not recreating their DB would need to
know to grab ad run that SQL doc to get the inline help.

3. Would we want to have the "docs-edit" window functionality to appear in
the actual distribution?  It might help engage the early adopter user base
in generating raw docs.  That may or may not be a good thing.

Possible Bells/Whistles
************************
1. Add comment hooks to help docs.  Much like the online MySQL and PHP
manuals.  Would allow admin to add his/her own notes to docs.

2. Add "Submit your notes to Xaraya Docs team" button.  Depends on #1, but
would allow users to submit their notes (which could be a complete rewrite
of a particular section) to the Xaraya docs team for review and possible
inclusion into the official docs.  We would probably want/need a "Submit
under GPL?" screen that informs submitters that anything they submit through
this process will, by default be GPL-ed.  This would head off problems
before they start.

That is the idea ...

Doug