[ic] Major changes to DEVEL CVS branch

[Chris Tooley]

On Mon, 2003-01-13 at 21:24, Mike Heins wrote:
> Quoting Chris Tooley (christ@ntrc.net):
> > On Mon, 2003-01-13 at 20:06, Mike Heins wrote:
> > > Dear All,
> > > 
> > > This is to advise everyone that the nightly builds will stop temporarily.
> > > There have been major changes to the DEVEL branch CVS prior to the
> > > beta for Interchange 5.0.
> > > 
> > > The fine folks at Zeald have provided professional-quality HTML for
> > > the Interchange UI, and I have incorporated it in an update that should
> > > greatly improve the UI, and make it more intuitive.
> > > 
> > > In addition, the UI becomes more easily configurable than ever.
> > > 
> > > Most custom UI pages should work unchanged, but there may be cases
> > > where they don't; also, most menus should work fine but again there
> > > will be cases where they won't. Because of this, I am suspending 
> > > the nightly build until some semblance of stability returns.
> > > 
> > > In a few days, Demo space 1 should reflect the new UI and the
> > > nightly builds will return.
> > > 
> > > Best,
> > > Mike
> > 
> > At one point I saw some talk of a manual for the standard Foundation
> > store possibly being produced.
> 
> There actually is such a manual, icfoundation, though as usual I am sure
> it is not nearly what people seem to want. It is all anyone seems to be
> moved to work to produce; after the treatment I have received for my docs
> efforts I can't seem to get motivated to do more, and neither can anyone
> else.
> 
>     http://www.icdevgroup.org/the_authors_life.txt
> 
It totally understand.  I'm starting down a path that is going to
probably require a huge commitment in both time and money to make both
Foundation and our future product documented.  If we get done (we're
hoping to be done with it in a year) we'll be using the Open
Documentation License.

However, what I was looking for was not a description of the Foundation
store from a technical perspective but an actual guide for someone just
recieving orders and creating product associations and discounts. 
Things of that nature.  icfoundation (from what I can tell) is not
really that.  It's a pretty good doc, just not something I'd hand over
to our Orders Clerk.

> > As it appears that 5.0 will be not only
> > a major backend change and but also a major shift in UI.  Has this been
> > looked into recently?
> 
> The thing I am really interested in is some better online help. There is
> now a built-in online help editor, but I doubt anyone except a couple of
> people (one of whom is me) will actually take the time to contribute
> back changes if past behavior is any indication.
> 
> I would love to be wrong on these assumptions... 8-)
> 
Well... I don't know how you want it submitted.  Let me know, I'll
commit what I can.

> > Also, is there anyone out there willing to
> > generalize their store to give some more options to the starting base?
> > 
> 
> I am afraid I have given my all here. While I have many other enhancements,
> the documentation program is a show-stopper and I won't put in any more
> features that cannot be supported.

I totally agree.  I'd love to have better documentation, to the point
that it's going to make our future work impossible without it.

We are hoping to build a Point of Purchase/Brick and Mortar POS system
to integrate with Interchange.  I realize that seems funny coming from
someone that doesn't know a whole lot about perl, but I have a fairly
good group of surrounding people that I'll engage when I can facilitate
it.  Until then I need to raise some cash with the site and that means
getting orders in the door.  And that in turn means teaching the Orders
Clerk to use Interchange.

-- 
Chris  Tooley
Networking Technologies Resource Center
8650 Spicewood Springs Rd
Suite 105
Austin, TX  78759
(512)250-8985
email: christ@ntrc.net
pager: christ@my2way.com