[ic] Pee-Poor Documentation Rant

[Dan Browning]

At 05:08 AM 7/27/2002 +0800, you wrote:
>Hi All
>
>I can see two types of documentation:
>
>1. Developers - the true heart and soul of IC
>
>2. Admins/Installers/other folks below the developer level who need to 
>implement Interchange applications for various things
>
>What I mean is that the current docs really go toward the developers. 
>Trying to read AND IMPLEMENT such headings as Database, Tags, Templates, 
>Config, Advanced reminds me of what Alec Baldwin's character in 
>"Beetlejuice" said when he first described the Book of The Dead (or 
>whatever it was called). He said it was like reading "stereo 
>instructions", meaning that the content was so dense that you already had 
>to know the subject matter before it made any sense.
>
>What has been going through my mind is doing a rewrite of sorts to address 
>more of the "application" topics that the next level down of users really 
>focuses on. There would be tons of copy-and-paste example of "fully" 
>worked out solutions, not just parts of code or partial concepts that 
>still leave a few newbie questions hanging. This would be a kind of A-B-C 
>approach and, I think, would be the answer for many, many users of IC who 
>do not have the programming capability that the develpers have BUT who are 
>capable enough to implement Interchange if enough things are worked out. 
>For example, my headings would be something like (believe me, this is very 
>rough and is only a sample):
>
>1. Using and Creating Forms
>2. Secure Transactions
>3. Saving Data to external db's, including flatfiles
>4. Adding Pages
>5. How to Add/Modify/Delete Items using UI
>6. How to Add/Modify/Delete Cats and Subcats
>7. How to use encryption
>8. Lots more stuff I can't think of right now because I just got back from 
>the beach... :-))
>
>You get the idea. Create a set of Application Docs for such needs as 
>Ecommerce, Intranets, Auctions, and other stuff.
>
>Well, that's it for now. I hope this idea seems a good one.
>
>Ciao


<applause>


+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Dan Browning, Kavod Technologies <db@kavod.com>
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.