Re: Developer's guide: let's get started!

[John R Sheets <dusk smsi-roman com>]

Todd Graham Lewis wrote:

> I am ready to get started on the developer's guide.  Have we figured
> out how we're going to manage chunks of this baby?  Should I just
> start writing and figure out how to submit/reconcile them later?
> (HINT: the answer is no.)  What parts should I do?  I think that I
> can handle the following:
>
> i18n
> DnD

This is a good start for now.  I think it's important to have a good roadmap
so we know what goes where and how to integrate it, but it's also important
not to get bogged down in these initial details.  Hit the ground running, so
to speak.

I'll put it this way.  Currently, we're lacking sumbission guidelines.
Anyone who wants to start churning docs out, should go ahead and do it in
whatever form they feel works the best.  I'd be happy to monitor the various
formats and when we resolve to a specific, single format to convert existing
docs into that format.

Here are a couple threads I think we should explore:
 - DocBook style - Which <tags> are mandatory/suggested/ignored?
 - Submission formats - How should we organize chapters & sections?
      Plain text or preformatted DocBook?

Incidentally, if anyone wants to submit docs in plain text, I'd be happy to
do the conversion to DocBook.

> I have never written a GNOME program, and so I would not feel comfortable
> telling people how to do it.

Oh, don't let that stop you!  If you say something wrong, it'll get
corrected.  Even if you submit something that is totally off-base codewise,
we can still benefit from the way you organize your ideas: presentation is a
large part of a good software manual.  It's actually easier to fix technical
errors than it is to fix organizational problems.  IMHO.

> When can we get started?  Who is going to do Parts 1, 2 and 3?

I don't know that entire Parts will ever get doled out.  More likely, it'll
be people volunteering for specific chapters (and me filling in the cracks).
If you like a particular subject, leap in!  If more than one person works on
the same subject, all the better.  The best ideas of each person will be
merged into the final whole.

P.S.--In regards to your sig...

> --
> Todd Graham Lewis      MindSpring Enterprises    tlewis@mindspring.net
>  The Windows 2000 name was obviously created over a glass of root beer
>   in the company cafeteria by a couple of executives looking for a way
>    out of the Windows NT delays.                     -- John C. Dvorak

(c:  If you're interested, there's another pretty good take on the Windows
2000 naming hoopla, at

 http://www.winntmag.com/Update/Archive/Main.cfm

Choose the November 3rd issue.  (The November 10th issue has a bit on the
Halloween papers.)  It's a pretty similar opinion.