[kde-doc-english] Wiki-like khelp system

[Sander Koning]

Adrian Jadic wrote on 2006-10-23 10:37 -0500 regarding Re: [kde-doc-english] Wiki-like khelp system:
> On Monday 23 October 2006 08:07, Rinse De Vries wrote:
> > Thus kde systems that are not connected to the Internet won't ship with any
> > documentation at all. Which would be a bad thing
> 
> I would like to discuss a little bit about this statement which in a form or 
> another has been brought up by other people too.

Some comments / thoughts interspersed.

> First, Nobody says that the current system cannot remain in place and have two 
> systems working in parallel and complementing each other.

True. But given the few people we currently have working on documentation, we
cannot afford to have those spend their time on a wiki as well. So there will
have to come different people who manage it and coordinate with the
documentation authors/coordinators.

> Second, I really doubt that there should be a concern about Linux users 
> without internet access. I personally do not believe they exist and if they 
> do exist they must be a small minority. Linux is by definition a product of 
> the internet and most distributions are only downloadable and upgradable 
> through the internet.

> If there are desktop users without internet then they are most probably using 
> Windows. Why would someone without internet need to use 
> Linux? ...Games? ...Taxes? ...Office? Windows has a much better supply of 
> software in these domains. 

Not every computer is connected to the internet and I definitely do not consider
an internet connection to be a prerequisite to run *any* operating system.    

> Plus most of the times one can't even configure  a 
> Linux system if he/she does not access some forums or Google. 
> In conclusion, I don't think Internet access is an issue.

It's not a large issue, but I don't want documentation to be *dependent* of it.
An online wiki is not 100% reliable with respect to server outages or connection
failures. 
Not that KHelpcenter or my bookshelf at home is infallible, but they don't have
those issues. 

> The whole point of the wiki would be to have a centralised place where people 
> using KDE could EASILY contribute to the community. To me, it is clear that 
> KDE-docs cannot keep the pace with the new features of the apps simply 
> because it is labor intensive and only a few can actually create docbook 
> pages. Plus, every day new apps appear while others become obsolete.

This is a completely valid point.

> I started using Linux (SUSE) in Jan 2004. I had enormous trouble finding my 
> way through it and many times I had the impulse of reverting back because 
> nothing was working. Nobody told me about things like libdvdcss, or 
> w32codecs. SUSE had it's own manual which was just repeating the same things 
> about make and make install but nobody was telling me why my USB Audio was 
> not autodetected or how to send a FAX through my linux machine.
> 
> Now I moved to Kubuntu and a Wiki is exactly what Kubuntu has and makes the 
> life a lot easier to every beginner because things are spelled out in clear 
> and get updated as soon as a new release is out. I think KDE should work the 
> same way and we should be opened enough to new ideas to at least try them.
> Will it be the perfect solution? ..maybe not. Someone said something about 
> localization. I say that Wiki pages can be created in the different languages 
> faster than docbook ones.

But they are much harder to check for changes.

> Once the content is entered in the wiki by the different contributors then the 
> kde-doc people could turn it into docbook and have it available also to 
> offline users. But the LARGE MAJORITY will have the LATEST info right at 
> their fingertips in the WIki. 
> ===Which would be a good thing====

It would... but again, the largest problem we have at the moment is people. As
long as we cannot even keep up with our own to-do lists, I don't see how this
can be done in proper coordination with the documentation team. And I don't see
any use for another wiki that isn't, in addition to wiki.kde.org.

Don't get me wrong - I may have sounded more grumpy than I wanted to - but my
priorities at the moment lie somewhere else, and I think that the rest of the
documentation team has the same problem. It's a nice idea, I just don't think
that it can be done properly now, and I wouldn't want to see lots of effort be
wasted on it because there are would be not enough people to set it up and keep
it running for the first while.

Cheers,

-- 
Sander Koning  (askie)   |   sanderkoning - at - kde -.- nl
KDE Nederland            |   http://www.kde.nl/
KOffice & Krita          |   http://koffice.org/  &  http://koffice.org/krita/
KDE documentation        |   http://docs.kde.org/
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