Re: minivend-users V1 #191

[mediamob <mediamob@dnaco.net>]

******    message to minivend-users from mediamob <mediamob@dnaco.net>     ******

On Thu, 27 May 1999, minivend-users wrote:

> ------------------------------
> 
> Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 13:13:19 -0400
> From: "William Jones" <wmhjones@sprintmail.com>
> Subject: New to MiniVend
> 
> ******    message to minivend-users from "William Jones" <wmhjones@sprintmail.com>     ******
> 
> I just installed minivend and I'm trying to get a understanding of this. Is
> this the proper forum to ask very basic questions. I'm going to need a lot
> of help, but I don't want to a "pain". So before I start I want to know is
> this the right place to ask and will my ignorance be forgiven?
> Thanks.
> 
This is the right and proper place. You will not be a pain if you do a few
things for each question:

Search (on the minivend site) the FAQ, the Docs, the Tag Reference and the
Mailing List archive before posting a question here. Your question may be
answered already.

Indicate clearly what you tried to do and what exact response you got:

Wrong: "I tried to change the page thing and it didn't work!!!!!"
Right: "I changed the [page browse1] [/page] tag on the 'catalog' page
from the sample catalog to [page href=browse1]  [/page] and when I
reload the 'catalog' page and click the link, there is no response from my
browser."

Be polite, and always remember that everyone who reads this list and posts
answers - including Mike Heins, the author of MiniVend - is a volunteer
who owes you nothing. 

I can rarely contribute to the list because I am so ignorant myself, so
I'm going to take a little opportunity to give back a bit by recounting
those things that I have so far found hardest to understand or adjust to
with Minivend. Here they are, in no special order:

1. The documentation is not instructions. It contains examples,
definitions, and warnings, but does not tell you what to do. Don't look
for that missing part of the book B-}=

2. Read the documentation like a novel before you begin. No matter how
much makes no sense to you, go all the way through. After you have begun
trying to create your catalog, and hit a few snags, read it again. This
practice should give you enough familiarity with the style of the
documentation that you will be able to make intelligent searches and know
what terms mean in minivend.

3. Speaking of terms - words will often mean more than one thing in the
minivend docs. Be prepared to spend a bit of time sorting it out from
context. Also, try not to be as literal in your reading as one would
expect from most documentation. There's a fix in the FAQs for version 3.11
that says it fixes a slow search in the demo catalog's 'browse' page. I
spent a week trying to figure out how they related before finally noticing
that it was a fix for a page called 'browse1', not 'browse'. If I hadn't
fixated on the literal term, it would have gone faster.

4. Minivend can do anything. In that regard, it is more like a language
than a desktop style application. Also like a language, it doesn't do
anything easily.

5. Minivend can do most things more than one way. Unless you are
experienced, you chances of figuring out the best way for your
circumstance BEFORE YOU BEGIN USING MINIVEND are very slim. Expect to do
it over more than once while making that first catalog.

6. While you do not really NEED it, knowledge of Perl, HTML, Unix,
client-server models, and programming in general will give you the habits
that make Minivend and it's docs more intuitive - or so say I.

That said, good luck - remeber, it's free and more powerful and flexible
than anything money can buy!

Pat Santucci

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