Subject:
Re: LinuxWorld in San Francisco
From:
Stein Gjoen ####@####.####
Date:
7 Oct 2001 21:33:16 -0000
Message-Id: <3BBCDADC.3000202@mail.nyx.net>
David Merrill wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 14, 2001 at 11:32:11PM +0200, Stein Gjoen wrote:
>>Hello,
>>Henry Kingman wrote:
>>>Hey There,
>>[snip]
>>>Spell-checking and basic editing would go a long way
>>>
>>
>>How much of that takes place during the submission process?
>>Perhaps we could combine this by an automated reply of
>>submission received combined with a short list of typos as
>>created by one of the later, smarter versions of *spell?
>>
>>When I run the spellchecker here it doesn't skip URLs
>>and therefore grunts out enormous and useless lists where
>>genuine errors might be buried in URL content.
No inputs on this yet. Suggestion: why not make a pass
through the spell checker part of the email SGML rendering
process?
>>>Fonts is a big issue--surface it and other "most popular" stuff
>>>on LDP homepage? Or a "most popular" page?
>>
>>I am not sure how relevant that would be as I suspect people
>>enter by front page to look for specific topics or via a
>>search engine like Google using keywords.
>
> But remember that the documentation lives locally for many people,
> too. The gnome help browser and konqueror are becoming the common way
> to get to those local docs now, and they are using the indexes. Even
> the ScrollServer package is using them.
>
> BTW, I checked ScrollServer into the LDP cvs a few days ago. Check it
> out. It's a small http server in Python that serves ScrollKeeper
> documents. It's GPL'ed.
This brings us back to the topic of LDP document distros for
CD ROM, we never quite finished that last time. In addition to
making an off-line archive browsable it should also be indexed
and searchable. I like grep but I realise not everyone agrees.
[snip]
>>Perhaps you could list what documents could do with a tune-up?
>
> Many, many, many. If you go to the database I've provided a tag for
> whether or not the document has been `reviewed'. If you start work on
> one, mark it as `in review' and then update to `reviewed' when you
> submit it.
>
>
>>>Better indexes would be helpful, since related information often
>>>appears in several places. Fonts, for example, where you have the
>>>font, de-uglification and X HOWTOs, and probably others, all with
>>>font information. Some kind of topic index would be nice.
>>>
>>
>>A comprehensive classification of the documents was proposed
>>some time ago but I haven't heard anything recently. Does anyone
>>have more updates on that effort?
>>
>
> Not really, except that I am burnt out on indexing and probably won't
> do it anytime soon. I'll give pointers if somebody else wants to
> tackle it.
I'll add this to the TODO list soon.
> In related news, however, ScrollKeeper has established a hierarchy and
> we should use it, and offer improvements as we need them so we don't
> maintain our own, incompatible, version.
>
>
>>>More troubleshooting information for when procedures in howtos don't work
>>> --integrated bulletin boards
>>> --help forums
>>>
>>
>>An automated error/comment system has been proposed. I suggested using
>>Freshmeat, integrating the LDP infrastructure with it. Some authors
>>have registered documents with Freshmeat already. I never got a reply
>>from the people behind Freshmeat and have not had the time to pursue
>>the matter.
>
> Can I have some more details on this? I don't understand you.
> We could always use the bug tracking available on SourceForge.
This was an idea I brought up quite some time ago as part of an
overall workflow process. I suggested an automated approach where
updates accepted by the submit-list would automatically fire off
an update to Freshmeat. Already a number of HOWTO authors do this
themselves but I had hoped it could be centralised to offload
authors and also gain a wider awareness of the documentation.
Freshmeat has a backend used by LWN to generate a list of weekly
software updates announcements and it works very well. Additionally
Freshmeat provides a web based feedback page.
>>However Debian has a working bug tracking system and I have had two
>>reports from there, one was just the other day.
>>
>>A web based interface has the advantage of having a tiny threshold
>>for the users to use, writing email can be more complicated.
>
> Yes, and you don't get as good information, either.
Looking at the feedback through Freshmeat suggests it still
would be useful. For the record, the feedback I have gotten
through Debian has also been useful.
>>>Okay, that's all that comes to mind. Again, the overwhelming majority
>>>of comments were appreciative. It was fun to hang out in the booth,
>>>take all the credit, and soak up all the compliments ;-). Thanks to
>>>Joy for organizing us volunteers and making sure there was someone
>>>to cover the booth for the whole show.
>>
>>Should we have a section on LDP for reports of big meetings, some
>>kind of log of public participations of the LDP?
>
> Usually we just post to the home page. Isn't that okay?
Sure. I just wanted an extra page of all past meetings too
so we can see who has experience in this and who has been
to such events earlier. Also it gives a good indication of
overall activity when logs show we are making an effort.
>>>>Also, I thought it would be a good idea to have some kind of handouts in
>>>>the booth. I am looking for ideas about which of our documents you think
>>>>would be good to print out and have available as handouts. A history of the
>>>>LDP would be great to have also if someone has something like this handy.
>>
>>Those are two very good points. So what do we have in terms of
>>readily available material on LDP? And what was handed out during
>>Linuxworld? Also what do we have on the history of the LDP? I don't
>>know for sure when it started, was it in 1994?
>
> No idea, but it is a very good idea. It should be posted on the site,
> too.
Some projects also keep press kits. That might go well together
with conference kits too. What about business cards, what is the
status on that front?
BTW my local LDP archive lists first posting in 14.07.1997
and in all I have about 8500 messages stored.
Regards,
Stein Gjoen
