[ic] saving carts poorly documented

[Dan Browning]

At 02:35 PM 9/30/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello readers... skip to the next post.  This is for the developers.  I have
>to keep asking this same question over and over, with no one seemingly able
>to answer here (Using Interchange 4.8 on a shared hosting environment, and
>cannot get the "save this cart" function to work:
>http://interchange.redhat.com/pipermail/interchange-users/2002-September/026
>563.html).

I think your question wasn't very clear, that's why I didn't answer 
it.  While I'm at it, the answer to your question is:  WFM (Works For 
Me).  It works fine on the Live Demo, even.  Apparently, your modifications 
to Foundation is causing it not to work.

[Snip some observations about the docs]

I'll try to summarize your main points (correct me if I'm wrong):

  * Doing the things you need should be easier and faster
         - Where "things" is different for everybody
         - But in this case means "save carts"
  * The docs need to :
         - have more continuity
         - have better coverage of all Foundation features (save carts)
         - be up to date

If I'm correct in understanding what you're saying, then it certainly comes 
as no surprise.  There are two steps to improving that situation:

  1. Identifying documentation work needs
  2. Finding someone to do it.

You hit #1 on the head by identifying "save cart" as one thing that needs 
better documentation.  #2 is usually the tricky part.  No matter how many 
times I've tried, my wife wont eat documentation (even when I tell her that 
it's high in fiber).  Therefore, I have to work so she has something else 
to eat.  :-)  It is much the same situation with a lot of people involved 
in Interchange.

However, as you can see, the mountainous pile of documentation came from 
/somewhere/, and, you guessed it, we do spend time on documentation anyway 
(Mike Heins wrote most of it).

There are a lot things that "Users Like You [tm]" can do.  Namely, if you 
have already gotten a site off the ground, then I think it is likely you 
already know *something* about Interchange.  Why not contribute what you 
*do* know back to Interchange in the form of a contribution to the 
documentation?  Or were the current docs good enough for what you had to do 
already?

For example:

  * You want N feature.
  * You read docs for N feature, and they suck.
  * Through whatever means, you solve N feature.
  <<---Here's the critical part --->>
  * You submit new documentation for N feature.

It's really easy.  People do it every once and a while, but not very 
often.  And I don't want to hear about how you can't write documentation 
because it's too hard.  If you can write the e-mail you just did, then you 
can write documentation.

Heck, I'll even make you a deal.  For every word that you write as 
improvement to the current documentation, I'll write  one word in 
documenting the save_cart feature.  Deal?

--
/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
| Dan Browning, Kavod Technologies      <dan.browning@kavod.com> |
| (360) 882-7872 x7, 6700 NE 162nd Ave, Suite 210, Vancouver, WA |
\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/
Yesterday I was a dog.  Today I'm a dog.  Tomorrow I'll probably still
be a dog. Sigh!  There's so little hope for advancement.
                 -- Snoopy