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Tarek Ziadé
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Hello All,
I haven't seen anyone talk about that yet, so... Sphinx rocks. It is used for Python (http://docs.python.org/dev) and many framework out there move to it. Since its is reStructuredText based it is amazingly simple to start a documentation project on an existing code base. It is also a very gentle and nice way to push developers to write documentation: their doctests are already available and other text files probably just need to be reviewed a bit. Rebuilding an up-to-date documentation is also dead easy: add a svn post-commit hook that call Sphinx make script and you're done. I think I would be a big win for Plone to have a Sphinx-based documentation site that would complete apis.plone.org for instance. (If I was not involved in other projects at this time I would probably go ahead and start something up on the top of plone code to demonstrate it. ;-) ) Any opinions about that ? Tarek |
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Martin Aspeli-2
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Tarek Ziadé wrote:
> Hello All, > > I haven't seen anyone talk about that yet, so... > > Sphinx rocks. It is used for Python (http://docs.python.org/dev) and many > framework out there move to it. > > Since its is reStructuredText based it is amazingly simple to start a > documentation project on an existing code base. It is also a very gentle and > nice way to push developers to write documentation: their doctests are > already available and other text files probably just need to be reviewed a > bit. > > Rebuilding an up-to-date documentation is also dead easy: add a svn > post-commit hook that call Sphinx make script and you're done. > > I think I would be a big win for Plone to have a Sphinx-based documentation > site that would complete > apis.plone.org for instance. (If I was not involved in other projects at > this time I would probably go ahead and start something up on the top of > plone code to demonstrate it. ;-) ) > > Any opinions about that ? I think Sphinx can work for developer documentation. I don't think it works well for end-user documentation. For that, we have a CMS already. :) I'm not a huge fan of reST myself, but I know many people like it. We can probably standardise our way of writing documentation for packages, and if we can pull in interface definitions and docstrings, then having a "live" browsable set of documentation would be nice. One problem is how we integrate this into our existing documentation area. I know that grok.zope.org and new.zope.org have similar problems. Since both use Plone, we could conceivably find a solution together. Martin -- Author of `Professional Plone Development`, a book for developers who want to work with Plone. See http://martinaspeli.net/plone-book ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Tarek Ziadé
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I think the only advantage of a CMS at this time for such static document is the comments user can add. This is being added in Sphinx iirc. In any case, the current documentation area is quite nice already, so I agree it would fit better for developer documentation. Yes, Sphinx has an autodoc feature that browse packages looking for reSt file, so it should be easy to set it up Yes, this is a problem. Maybe having a separate site (like apis.plone.org) dedicated to sphinx autodoc generation for all packages could be a starting point. cheers Tarek |
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Martin Aspeli-2
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Tarek Ziadé wrote:
> > > Martin Aspeli wrote: >> I think Sphinx can work for developer documentation. I don't think it >> works well for end-user documentation. For that, we have a CMS already. :) >> > > I think the only advantage of a CMS at this time for such static document is > the comments > user can add. I'm not so sure about that. The current PHC architecture (well, once you guys finish fixing plone.org) makes it easy for people to contribute documentation. We get a review workflow, and we get content types that make it easy to manage images, file attachments and multiple pages. I consider this type of editing environment much more conducive to good documentation than reST in svn. Most people are not comfortable with reST because it's not WYSIWYG. It's very geeky. :) > This is being added in Sphinx iirc. In any case, the current documentation > area is quite nice already, so I agree it would fit better for developer > documentation. Right. And keeping the docs close to the source is a very good idea. I think the dream would be to be able to publish doctests, readmes and interface docs in a seamlessly browsable environment that's easy to keep up to date, and which can cover core plone packages as well as third party packages. More general tutorials, how-tos and reference manuals should probably stay in Plone, IMHO. > Yes, this is a problem. Maybe having a separate site (like apis.plone.org) > dedicated to sphinx autodoc generation for all packages could be a starting > point. I think that's certainly an easy place to begin. We obviously have api.plone.org now, but I'm not sure how many people use it. Sphinx would probably make it much more friendly. Martin -- Author of `Professional Plone Development`, a book for developers who want to work with Plone. See http://martinaspeli.net/plone-book ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Dylan Jay-3
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Martin Aspeli wrote:
> Tarek Ziadé wrote: >> >> Martin Aspeli wrote: >>> I think Sphinx can work for developer documentation. I don't think it >>> works well for end-user documentation. For that, we have a CMS already. :) >>> >> I think the only advantage of a CMS at this time for such static document is >> the comments >> user can add. > > I'm not so sure about that. The current PHC architecture (well, once you > guys finish fixing plone.org) makes it easy for people to contribute > documentation. We get a review workflow, and we get content types that > make it easy to manage images, file attachments and multiple pages. I > consider this type of editing environment much more conducive to good > documentation than reST in svn. Most people are not comfortable with > reST because it's not WYSIWYG. It's very geeky. :) > >> This is being added in Sphinx iirc. In any case, the current documentation >> area is quite nice already, so I agree it would fit better for developer >> documentation. > > Right. And keeping the docs close to the source is a very good idea. I > think the dream would be to be able to publish doctests, readmes and > interface docs in a seamlessly browsable environment that's easy to keep > up to date, and which can cover core plone packages as well as third > party packages. I think a key difference is that IMO PHC promotes lots of versions of documentation. Each tutorial is an island created by one person at one time. I'm not sure how sphinx works but the end result looks more like a cohesive explanation of how stuff works and fits togeather. What is their update process? Hopefully the missing piece for PHC is editors to make the individual submissions into a whole. > More general tutorials, how-tos and reference manuals should probably > stay in Plone, IMHO. > >> Yes, this is a problem. Maybe having a separate site (like apis.plone.org) >> dedicated to sphinx autodoc generation for all packages could be a starting >> point. > > I think that's certainly an easy place to begin. We obviously have > api.plone.org now, but I'm not sure how many people use it. Sphinx would > probably make it much more friendly. The good thing about api documentation is you know its up to date or at least linked to a certain version. But then only those who can write framework code can write the documentation right... with the current api.plone.org? Certainly doing what they have done and having versions of their docs linked to teh products version is the way to go I think. > Martin > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Martin Aspeli-2
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Hi Dylan,
> I think a key difference is that IMO PHC promotes lots of versions of > documentation. Each tutorial is an island created by one person at one > time. True, but likely so is a file in svn. :) > I'm not sure how sphinx works but the end result looks more like a > cohesive explanation of how stuff works and fits togeather. What is > their update process? Sphinx just generates HTML from reST files associated with packages. That's why it works well for developer/low-level documentation. I write readme's and doctests for my packages, and Sphinx makes them accessible in a nice way. > Hopefully the missing piece for PHC is editors to make the individual > submissions into a whole. Right. The current documentation isn't suffering from a technology problem, it's suffering (less than it used to, it must be said) from the all too familiar problem that to a lot of people, writing documentation is not as fun as writing code, and updating and editing documentation is even more onerous. For example, I doubt we'd get Laura or JoAnna or Donna to write documentation in reST in svn. Not because they couldn't, but because that kind of environment isn't geared for that type of user or that type of documentation. Even figuring out where to put it would be awkward. reST is awkward. Lack of WYSIWYG is awkward. And by the same token, we won't necessarily get Kapil or Hanno or Sidnei to write documentation for their packages in the PHC, although they do often write excellent developer documentation that's embedded with the code. Sphinx could let us make that more accessible to people. I don't think it'll solve any other problems for us. > Certainly doing what they have done and having versions of their docs > linked to teh products version is the way to go I think. Yep. Martin -- Author of `Professional Plone Development`, a book for developers who want to work with Plone. See http://martinaspeli.net/plone-book ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Dylan Jay-3
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I didn't make myself very clear.
Absolutely agree that a CMS is the most accessible way to help people make documentation. One thing that api docs do is show 1 document per part of the system, all togeather for a single version. http://www.python.org/doc/versions/ Hopefully thats something that editors can do with the PHC. Create one up to date consistent version of the docs for the current version, and relegate old docs to old versions so its clear they are obsolete. Martin Aspeli wrote: > Hi Dylan, > >> I think a key difference is that IMO PHC promotes lots of versions of >> documentation. Each tutorial is an island created by one person at one >> time. > > True, but likely so is a file in svn. :) > >> I'm not sure how sphinx works but the end result looks more like a >> cohesive explanation of how stuff works and fits togeather. What is >> their update process? > > Sphinx just generates HTML from reST files associated with packages. > That's why it works well for developer/low-level documentation. I write > readme's and doctests for my packages, and Sphinx makes them accessible > in a nice way. > >> Hopefully the missing piece for PHC is editors to make the individual >> submissions into a whole. > > Right. The current documentation isn't suffering from a technology > problem, it's suffering (less than it used to, it must be said) from the > all too familiar problem that to a lot of people, writing documentation > is not as fun as writing code, and updating and editing documentation is > even more onerous. > > For example, I doubt we'd get Laura or JoAnna or Donna to write > documentation in reST in svn. Not because they couldn't, but because > that kind of environment isn't geared for that type of user or that type > of documentation. Even figuring out where to put it would be awkward. > reST is awkward. Lack of WYSIWYG is awkward. > > And by the same token, we won't necessarily get Kapil or Hanno or Sidnei > to write documentation for their packages in the PHC, although they do > often write excellent developer documentation that's embedded with the > code. Sphinx could let us make that more accessible to people. I don't > think it'll solve any other problems for us. > >> Certainly doing what they have done and having versions of their docs >> linked to teh products version is the way to go I think. > > Yep. > > Martin > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Wichert Akkerman
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Previously Dylan Jay wrote:
> Martin Aspeli wrote: > > Hi Dylan, > > > >> I think a key difference is that IMO PHC promotes lots of versions of > >> documentation. Each tutorial is an island created by one person at one > >> time. > > > > True, but likely so is a file in svn. :) > > > >> I'm not sure how sphinx works but the end result looks more like a > >> cohesive explanation of how stuff works and fits togeather. What is > >> their update process? > > > > Sphinx just generates HTML from reST files associated with packages. > > That's why it works well for developer/low-level documentation. I write > > readme's and doctests for my packages, and Sphinx makes them accessible > > in a nice way. > > > >> Hopefully the missing piece for PHC is editors to make the individual > >> submissions into a whole. > > > > Right. The current documentation isn't suffering from a technology > > problem, it's suffering (less than it used to, it must be said) from the > > all too familiar problem that to a lot of people, writing documentation > > is not as fun as writing code, and updating and editing documentation is > > even more onerous. > > > > For example, I doubt we'd get Laura or JoAnna or Donna to write > > documentation in reST in svn. Not because they couldn't, but because > > that kind of environment isn't geared for that type of user or that type > > of documentation. Even figuring out where to put it would be awkward. > > reST is awkward. Lack of WYSIWYG is awkward. > > > > And by the same token, we won't necessarily get Kapil or Hanno or Sidnei > > to write documentation for their packages in the PHC, although they do > > often write excellent developer documentation that's embedded with the > > code. Sphinx could let us make that more accessible to people. I don't > > think it'll solve any other problems for us. Which immediately makes me conclude that Sphinx would be ideal to build reference documentation (which do don't have at all right now) while PHC is great for other types of documentation. Developers need to do a much better job of writing reference documentation for the code they write. http://pypi.python.org/pypi/plone.portlets is useless for example, while http://pypi.python.org/pypi/plone.session is somewhat useful. If I can get away with it I'm tempted to make it a hard requirement for everything that gets merged for Plone 4. Wichert. -- Wichert Akkerman <wichert@...> It is simple to make things. http://www.wiggy.net/ It is hard to make things simple. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Martin Aspeli-2
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Wichert Akkerman wrote:
> Previously Dylan Jay wrote: >> Martin Aspeli wrote: >>> Hi Dylan, >>> >>>> I think a key difference is that IMO PHC promotes lots of versions of >>>> documentation. Each tutorial is an island created by one person at one >>>> time. >>> True, but likely so is a file in svn. :) >>> >>>> I'm not sure how sphinx works but the end result looks more like a >>>> cohesive explanation of how stuff works and fits togeather. What is >>>> their update process? >>> Sphinx just generates HTML from reST files associated with packages. >>> That's why it works well for developer/low-level documentation. I write >>> readme's and doctests for my packages, and Sphinx makes them accessible >>> in a nice way. >>> >>>> Hopefully the missing piece for PHC is editors to make the individual >>>> submissions into a whole. >>> Right. The current documentation isn't suffering from a technology >>> problem, it's suffering (less than it used to, it must be said) from the >>> all too familiar problem that to a lot of people, writing documentation >>> is not as fun as writing code, and updating and editing documentation is >>> even more onerous. >>> >>> For example, I doubt we'd get Laura or JoAnna or Donna to write >>> documentation in reST in svn. Not because they couldn't, but because >>> that kind of environment isn't geared for that type of user or that type >>> of documentation. Even figuring out where to put it would be awkward. >>> reST is awkward. Lack of WYSIWYG is awkward. >>> >>> And by the same token, we won't necessarily get Kapil or Hanno or Sidnei >>> to write documentation for their packages in the PHC, although they do >>> often write excellent developer documentation that's embedded with the >>> code. Sphinx could let us make that more accessible to people. I don't >>> think it'll solve any other problems for us. > > Which immediately makes me conclude that Sphinx would be ideal to build > reference documentation (which do don't have at all right now) while PHC > is great for other types of documentation. > > Developers need to do a much better job of writing reference > documentation for the code they write. > http://pypi.python.org/pypi/plone.portlets is useless for example, while > http://pypi.python.org/pypi/plone.session is somewhat useful. If I can > get away with it I'm tempted to make it a hard requirement for > everything that gets merged for Plone 4. Heh, point taken. If I put the plone.portlets doctest into pypi, you may be a bit scared, though. ;-) I think making this a requirement for new packages is a good idea, so long as we don't become overly draconian about it. Martin -- Author of `Professional Plone Development`, a book for developers who want to work with Plone. See http://martinaspeli.net/plone-book ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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JoAnna Springsteen
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In reply to this post by Wichert Akkerman
> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> > Which immediately makes me conclude that Sphinx would be ideal to > build > reference documentation (which do don't have at all right now) while > PHC > is great for other types of documentation. > > Developers need to do a much better job of writing reference > documentation for the code they write. > http://pypi.python.org/pypi/plone.portlets is useless for example, > while > http://pypi.python.org/pypi/plone.session is somewhat useful. If I can > get away with it I'm tempted to make it a hard requirement for > everything that gets merged for Plone 4. Hmmm. Getting developers to write more reference docs.... Sounds like a good conference disscussion to me. If you guys think it's worth a conf talk, I'll organize a panel talk if people agree to be on the panel. Might get us some good ideas and a way to move forward. While you're right that most of the doc team wouldnt use reST, anything that gets devs documenting is worth a shot in my book. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Wichert Akkerman
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In reply to this post by Martin Aspeli-2
Previously Martin Aspeli wrote:
> Wichert Akkerman wrote: > > Previously Dylan Jay wrote: > >> Martin Aspeli wrote: > >>> Hi Dylan, > >>> > >>>> I think a key difference is that IMO PHC promotes lots of versions of > >>>> documentation. Each tutorial is an island created by one person at one > >>>> time. > >>> True, but likely so is a file in svn. :) > >>> > >>>> I'm not sure how sphinx works but the end result looks more like a > >>>> cohesive explanation of how stuff works and fits togeather. What is > >>>> their update process? > >>> Sphinx just generates HTML from reST files associated with packages. > >>> That's why it works well for developer/low-level documentation. I write > >>> readme's and doctests for my packages, and Sphinx makes them accessible > >>> in a nice way. > >>> > >>>> Hopefully the missing piece for PHC is editors to make the individual > >>>> submissions into a whole. > >>> Right. The current documentation isn't suffering from a technology > >>> problem, it's suffering (less than it used to, it must be said) from the > >>> all too familiar problem that to a lot of people, writing documentation > >>> is not as fun as writing code, and updating and editing documentation is > >>> even more onerous. > >>> > >>> For example, I doubt we'd get Laura or JoAnna or Donna to write > >>> documentation in reST in svn. Not because they couldn't, but because > >>> that kind of environment isn't geared for that type of user or that type > >>> of documentation. Even figuring out where to put it would be awkward. > >>> reST is awkward. Lack of WYSIWYG is awkward. > >>> > >>> And by the same token, we won't necessarily get Kapil or Hanno or Sidnei > >>> to write documentation for their packages in the PHC, although they do > >>> often write excellent developer documentation that's embedded with the > >>> code. Sphinx could let us make that more accessible to people. I don't > >>> think it'll solve any other problems for us. > > > > Which immediately makes me conclude that Sphinx would be ideal to build > > reference documentation (which do don't have at all right now) while PHC > > is great for other types of documentation. > > > > Developers need to do a much better job of writing reference > > documentation for the code they write. > > http://pypi.python.org/pypi/plone.portlets is useless for example, while > > http://pypi.python.org/pypi/plone.session is somewhat useful. If I can > > get away with it I'm tempted to make it a hard requirement for > > everything that gets merged for Plone 4. > > Heh, point taken. If I put the plone.portlets doctest into pypi, you may > be a bit scared, though. ;-) A doctest is a test, it is often not very useful as user documentation or reference documentation but more a document describing implementation details and corner case. Still, it's a hell of a lot better than nothing at all :) Wichert. -- Wichert Akkerman <wichert@...> It is simple to make things. http://www.wiggy.net/ It is hard to make things simple. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Dylan Jay-3
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In reply to this post by Wichert Akkerman
Wichert Akkerman wrote:
> Previously Dylan Jay wrote: >> Martin Aspeli wrote: >>> Hi Dylan, >>> >>>> I think a key difference is that IMO PHC promotes lots of versions of >>>> documentation. Each tutorial is an island created by one person at one >>>> time. >>> True, but likely so is a file in svn. :) >>> >>>> I'm not sure how sphinx works but the end result looks more like a >>>> cohesive explanation of how stuff works and fits togeather. What is >>>> their update process? >>> Sphinx just generates HTML from reST files associated with packages. >>> That's why it works well for developer/low-level documentation. I write >>> readme's and doctests for my packages, and Sphinx makes them accessible >>> in a nice way. >>> >>>> Hopefully the missing piece for PHC is editors to make the individual >>>> submissions into a whole. >>> Right. The current documentation isn't suffering from a technology >>> problem, it's suffering (less than it used to, it must be said) from the >>> all too familiar problem that to a lot of people, writing documentation >>> is not as fun as writing code, and updating and editing documentation is >>> even more onerous. >>> >>> For example, I doubt we'd get Laura or JoAnna or Donna to write >>> documentation in reST in svn. Not because they couldn't, but because >>> that kind of environment isn't geared for that type of user or that type >>> of documentation. Even figuring out where to put it would be awkward. >>> reST is awkward. Lack of WYSIWYG is awkward. >>> >>> And by the same token, we won't necessarily get Kapil or Hanno or Sidnei >>> to write documentation for their packages in the PHC, although they do >>> often write excellent developer documentation that's embedded with the >>> code. Sphinx could let us make that more accessible to people. I don't >>> think it'll solve any other problems for us. > > Which immediately makes me conclude that Sphinx would be ideal to build > reference documentation (which do don't have at all right now) while PHC > is great for other types of documentation. I'd like to see a consistent set of PHC docs combined with api type reference docs from the code in such a way that they were released in conjunction with plone releases (of course there might have to be a lag) e.g. The plone 3.1 docs. The plone 3.0 docs. The plone 3.5 docs. That might mean for each release the editors of each PHC section selecting a subset of the tutorials etc that togeather make an up-to-date and *consistent* set of documentation to represent that release. Its all tagged and is then available at a url that indicates which release it belongs to. What I mean by consistent is tutorials/howtos etc that don't contradict each other or make confusingly different suggestions on the approach to solve problems. Technically how this happens I don't know since I seem to be suggesting that PHC items are copied and then archived for each release, or perhaps using iterate. and also that api docs prob have to be brought into PHC to participate in that same versioning process. or perhaps its easier if PHC content is versioned into svn along with the api docs and then all published statically. But then you'd need links back to plone docs comments and the "live" plone docs for encouraging new doc submissions. Dylan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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Wichert Akkerman
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Previously Dylan Jay wrote:
> Wichert Akkerman wrote: > > Previously Dylan Jay wrote: > >> Martin Aspeli wrote: > >>> Hi Dylan, > >>> > >>>> I think a key difference is that IMO PHC promotes lots of versions of > >>>> documentation. Each tutorial is an island created by one person at one > >>>> time. > >>> True, but likely so is a file in svn. :) > >>> > >>>> I'm not sure how sphinx works but the end result looks more like a > >>>> cohesive explanation of how stuff works and fits togeather. What is > >>>> their update process? > >>> Sphinx just generates HTML from reST files associated with packages. > >>> That's why it works well for developer/low-level documentation. I write > >>> readme's and doctests for my packages, and Sphinx makes them accessible > >>> in a nice way. > >>> > >>>> Hopefully the missing piece for PHC is editors to make the individual > >>>> submissions into a whole. > >>> Right. The current documentation isn't suffering from a technology > >>> problem, it's suffering (less than it used to, it must be said) from the > >>> all too familiar problem that to a lot of people, writing documentation > >>> is not as fun as writing code, and updating and editing documentation is > >>> even more onerous. > >>> > >>> For example, I doubt we'd get Laura or JoAnna or Donna to write > >>> documentation in reST in svn. Not because they couldn't, but because > >>> that kind of environment isn't geared for that type of user or that type > >>> of documentation. Even figuring out where to put it would be awkward. > >>> reST is awkward. Lack of WYSIWYG is awkward. > >>> > >>> And by the same token, we won't necessarily get Kapil or Hanno or Sidnei > >>> to write documentation for their packages in the PHC, although they do > >>> often write excellent developer documentation that's embedded with the > >>> code. Sphinx could let us make that more accessible to people. I don't > >>> think it'll solve any other problems for us. > > > > Which immediately makes me conclude that Sphinx would be ideal to build > > reference documentation (which do don't have at all right now) while PHC > > is great for other types of documentation. > > I'd like to see a consistent set of PHC docs combined with api type > reference docs from the code in such a way that they were released in > conjunction with plone releases (of course there might have to be a lag) > > e.g. The plone 3.1 docs. The plone 3.0 docs. The plone 3.5 docs. > > That might mean for each release the editors of each PHC section > selecting a subset of the tutorials etc that togeather make an > up-to-date and *consistent* set of documentation to represent that > release. Its all tagged and is then available at a url that indicates > which release it belongs to. That will never happen unless we magically increase the number of people working on documentation by a factor of 10. It may be interesting to read the grok-dev archive for the last month or so. Grok is moving in exactly this direction: sphinx-based reference documentation which is maintained in svn and has separate branches for the separate grok releases combined with tutorials in PHC. Both are shown on grok.zope.org. Wichert. -- Wichert Akkerman <wichert@...> It is simple to make things. http://www.wiggy.net/ It is hard to make things simple. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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vedaw
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In reply to this post by Dylan Jay-3
I think we can at least work surfacing the docs based on version number
through views. I've put together a design for the plone.org/products section that utilizes this concept, and the hope was that the view that breaks out these versions could be re-used for the docs section as well. This is a policy change that SteveM and I have been chatting about but we hadn't gotten to a decision or to the implementation stage. I personally like the idea, and it means that the currently supported versions (2.5 and 3.0, plus older docs) are split out but still available. As for making tutorials, etc. not contradict each other, a lot of that will ride on having people on the docs team garden properly. I think it would also behoove us to beef up the manuals to be the core set of docs with tutorials and how-tos being utilized for unusual use cases and "real world" examples. When a new version of Plone comes out, we just copy the old manual and revise as needed. That will reduce maintenance and focus the documentation better. I can't really speak to how the api docs would fit in here, but if you can define better what it is you hope to see, perhaps someone will volunteer to do the work. - Veda On 7/6/08 7:06 PM, "Dylan Jay" <gmane@...> wrote: > > I'd like to see a consistent set of PHC docs combined with api type > reference docs from the code in such a way that they were released in > conjunction with plone releases (of course there might have to be a lag) > > e.g. The plone 3.1 docs. The plone 3.0 docs. The plone 3.5 docs. > > That might mean for each release the editors of each PHC section > selecting a subset of the tutorials etc that togeather make an > up-to-date and *consistent* set of documentation to represent that > release. Its all tagged and is then available at a url that indicates > which release it belongs to. > > What I mean by consistent is tutorials/howtos etc that don't contradict > each other or make confusingly different suggestions on the approach to > solve problems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards: VOTE NOW! Studies have shown that voting for your favorite open source project, along with a healthy diet, reduces your potential for chronic lameness and boredom. Vote Now at http://www.sourceforge.net/community/cca08 _______________________________________________ Plone-docs mailing list Plone-docs@... https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/plone-docs |
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