[ic] Pee-Poor Documentation Rant

[Don Stafford]

> Quoting Jess Van Tassell (jav@vh.net):
> [snip]
> > cfm wrote:
> > >Even if such a chart were purely anecdotal it would be useful to keep
> > >people from getting in over their heads.  And fun to read too.  :-)
> > >
> > >BOFH sez maybe about line 10 of makecat should be:
> > >
> > >exit 1; # if you find this, comment it out and proceed.
> > >
> > >;^>
> > >
> >
> > Ouch! you're harsh!
> >
> > I suggested this awhile back, but I think my post was too
> > long and nobody read it. Before people download interchange,
> > they probably read the "case study for open source ecommerce"
> > and of course they read the system requirements stats. Along with
> > those, perhaps basic knowlege of linux, perl, apache, html, the
> > database the user will implement on, as well as sendmail and
> > DNS should be recommended. That's known as a good fair
> > warning!
> >
> > Many people think this package is an install-and-use nobrainer,
> > and approach it as such from a windows background. It would be
> > good to give them a little heads up as to what they're getting into.
>
> Have you ever tried to implement a custom VBA application in Excel or
> Access? I have, and I will tell you it is not a point-and-click affair.
>
> > RedHat presents Interchange as turnkey, when it's not. Well,
> > it is. But not if you want to alter the catalog any. And if you're not
> > selling hammers and paintbrushes, you'll probably want to change it.
>
> We would welcome alternate personalities, and even have the
> templates/sampledata hierarchy for people to drop it into.
>
> > Ecommerce is full of people who can't tell perl from the knitting
> > stitch their grandmother uses, but want to participate in the
> > success of online business.
>
> Again, I repeat my call for other programs to emulate. We are happy
> to try and improve -- but we need some guidance.
>
> Having written the lions share of the documentation myself, I would be
> happy to get more help such as the help given by Ed LaFrance, Dan
> Browning, and Jon Jensen.
>
> I do know that there are plenty of people who are willing to give me a
> one-liner asking for pages of work on my part. This is a constant in
> open source software -- there are a far greater number of people
> bemoaning the lack of work than people who actually sit down and do it.
>

No one is expecting a 'point-and-click' solution....
But some good, step 1, step 2, etc would really help.  ESPECIALLY when it
comes to permissions, etc.  That was trial and error for us to get working.