Re: Possible WM Documentation Project

Jess Anderson wrote:

>The usual course of inaction is to wait for someone else to do
>it, with predicatble results, namely none. For a different
>outcome, one person must do it alone or a small group (at
>least 3, not more than 5) must do it as a cooperative venture.
>  
>

I think that one person needs to spearhead the effort and break the 
project into small
enough pieces that a person could work one piece at a time.  So I'm 
willing to put in
some effort here.  If the doc lead were to hand me a piece, I'd work it, 
and then the
doc lead could review/edit it, and we could go back/forth on it until it 
looks suitable
and gets checked in.  Even if you break it into 50 pieces and you have a 
team of 3,
each doing one piece/month, in a years time, you've about got it all done.

>* How many people would be served?
>  
>

The people that documentation best suits are those who don't know anything
about WM and are considering it.  If it's too much trouble to figure out how
to install/run WM, then they're not going to.   If you want the user base to
grow beyond The Faithful, then making it easy to install and use is 
essential.

>* How much lifetime *really* remains for WM before its user
>  base falls below some critical mass and/or its developers
>  move on to more rewarding endeavors?
>  
>

If your user base is limited to people who read source code for the 
documentation,
it won't be long.  On the other hand, I'm developing an 'IX desktop 
product which
I have high hopes for and plan to make WM an important feature.  So if I 
have anywhere
near the success I expect to have, WM will become very widely known.  I 
dig WM
and would help out anyway, but having good WM docs can only help my own
project.


>I think all viewpoints should be heard and at least one of the
>above posters thought we don't need such an effort. If there's
>enough feeling to the contrary, I'll offer to contribute and
>(absent better alternatives) to coordinate the project, but I
>will not do it alone. 
>  
>

Cool.  I'll be happy to help.  I'm not an experienced tech writer, but 
I'll do my best.

One of the things I'd like to see are docs relating to all the weird 
little control files
and such.  What the GNUstep directory does and all the various control 
files
underneath it.   This would really help those trying to integrate WM 
into some
new 'IX variant.  I've only installed it in Redhat 6.x, 7.x, 9.x and 
Fedora Core 2.
A lot of the problem I suppose is that it just isn't stuff with WM, but 
also with
the login manager like GDM or XDM.  Still I think that the job isn't 
done until
the reader finds everything they need instead of having to reinvent the 
wheel.

I'd also like to see some docs that tell folks how to create themes
and such.  Maybe it's already there and I haven't found it, or what's 
there is minimal
and needs to be integrated into this larger effort.  It would certainly 
help if everything
could be found in one location.

Russ

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