discuss: Removing the RCS/CVS HOWTO for review
Subject:
Re: Removing the RCS/CVS HOWTO for review
From:
Emma Jane Hogbin ####@####.####
Date:
13 Nov 2003 01:41:34 -0000
Message-Id: <20031113014037.GC5112@debian>
On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 12:10:52AM +0000, John Levon wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 12, 2003 at 02:49:40PM -0500, Emma Jane Hogbin wrote:
> > I personally /like/ the document and have used it on several occasions
> > to solve my own problems. Sure there is some very obvious biased
> > language but it doesn't bother me as it's /very obvious/ and therefore
> > easy to gloss over. polished. This is a perfect example. I prefer the
> > formatting of an HTML page to a man page. Even those this one "only"
> > has the output of a bunch of man pages for some information, I find it
> > useful.
>
> Hi Emma, do I take this as meaning that you prefer the duplicated
> content in the HOWTO merely because of its format ? There are lots of
> HTML format CVS introductions on the web of better quality and
> usefulness, and, of course, the man pages themselves in HTML format.
Given two pieces of identical content, I would rather pull up one that is
not formatted like a man page. Instead of /just/ providing the man pages,
the CVS HOWTO gives a really good reference sheet. If I'm trying to
remember how to add a document, I lookup "add." I didn't say this was the
best document ever written. I just said that I like the document.
> Heading slightly off at a tangent, but - why on earth not ? It's like
> saying that you don't expect free software to be good :)
Because I have spent literally hundreds of hours writing documentation for
open source projects. And I know that as soon as I write a document it has
the potential to be: (1) out of date the next day; (2) never acknowledged
by the software development team. I'd like to think I write good
documentation, but it is a LOT of work and even after a LOT of work it's
never perfect. So if it's hard enough for me to write good documentation,
I certainly don't expect perfect documents from other people. I expect
something that has a tidbit of useful information which Google knows how
to find, everything else is icing on the cake.
But that's just my opinion. :)
emma
--
Emma Jane Hogbin
[[ 416 417 2868 ][ www.xtrinsic.com ]]
