documentation discussion (was: Re: [mv] IF tag: [if session login] doesn't work?)

[Mark Stosberg <mark@summersault.com>]

******    message to minivend-users from Mark Stosberg <mark@summersault.com>     ******


> In many of the list postings, in which people complain about not having
> information, it often turns out that they do have it (in the docs, FAQ, Tag
> Ref, etc), they are just not FINDING it, because they are not looking in
> the right place - which is often not the most obvious place.  I usually
> have to look in more than one spot to find the explanation or example I
> need.  Sometimes I do a text search of the entire docs to find all
> instances of a term or phrase.
> 
> So how about doing the docs as a Minivend database, with search pages,
> cross-referencing links, categorization, etc.?  Distributed with Minivend
> as part of the demo catalog(s).  Maybe a change in presentation would make
> them more useful and effective.  Some parts would have to be rewritten to
> be more modular and less of an "essay", but much of the content is easily
> adapted right now.
> 

Ed, I have a similiar experience. I find a full text search for a term
is often the best way to find what I want in the docs, although
sometimes I don't always pick the best term to use. :) I agree that some
restructuring of the current docs is a good idea, but I'm unsure of the
best way to go about it. Perhaps a database would be the best idea. That
could potentionally make it easy for people to submit changes additions
through a form like:

Name:
Usage:
Description:
Example 1:
Example 2:
...
Example n:

(I like examples. :) 

I know that the "tags" area of the documentation has a mechanized
format, so that might be a good starting point for a database
conversion. 

    -mark

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