discuss: VirtualWebhosting howto for ur review
Subject:
Re: VirtualWebhosting howto for ur review
From:
"Rodolfo J. Paiz" ####@####.####
Date:
26 Jan 2005 21:24:47 -0000
Message-Id: <1106774683.5295.126.camel@rodolfo.gt.factorrent.com>
On Wed, 2005-01-26 at 12:32 -0800, muhammad usman wrote:
> i am ready to improve, i will send u howto again, i will
> try to make it more user friendly.
>
Muhammad,
I have unfortunately not made the time yet to read through the HOWTO
carefully. However, allow me to make some initial suggestions:
1. Your English appears to be good enough for communication, but your
spelling, grammar, and punctuation are not ideal for publishing a
written document intended to help and educate your readers. This is not
a big hurdle or a major obstacle... just do try to run the document
through a spell checker, try to be careful of the details, and try to
get someone else to proofread it and look for mistakes. LDP always does
a language review when a document is ready for submission anyway, so one
or two of us will eventually do a full review for you. Always strive for
the most correct, scholarly English text possible; just as you would in
your native language.
2. Many, if not most or all, Linux distributions supply Apache and the
rest of the software you suggest to their users. Although they do use
different compile-time options and different packaging formats, in fact
they do at least provide that software. So I would suggest that you move
compilation information to appendices at the end of the document (e.g.
"Appendix A: Apache") and then suggest to the reader that if following
your instructions on their pre-supplied Apache doesn't work, that they
then consult your Appendix for how to get, compile, and use their own
Apache from source. But don't start off suggesting that *everyone*
compile packages... that simply is not representative of the majority of
users nowadays.
3. Don't be *too* specific... "MySQL 4.1.8" will surely be out of date
in a month! Note that there are many possible databases your readers
could use. Then specifically mention two or three of them (say,
PostgreSQL and MySQL) and give URL's for where they can be found.
Finally, suggest that you prefer MySQL and that you will use it for this
HOWTO. The user can then use his/her prebuilt MySQL (whatever came with
the distro) and start off with the instructions immediately, see your
"Appendix B: MySQL" for compilation instructions, or adapt to his/her
preferred database independently.
4. On a personal note, I feel that the HOWTO will lose most of its
usefulness unless the reader uses *EXACTLY* the packages and versions
you used. The instructions are just too specific. Heck, even the
download links are version- and file-specific! I suggest you provide a
little more explanation of *what* each task is meant to accomplish,
*why* that task is important, and *how* the task is accomplished. Then,
the details and commands you show will support the lesson you teach
instead of being the entire lesson in and of themselves. Remember, you
don't want users to just blindly type in what you tell them... you want
them to learn a little bit about what they are doing and why.
Hope this is useful to you.
Cheers,
--
Rodolfo J. Paiz ####@####.####
