[pmwiki-users] pmwiki documentation: Edit Templates

[The Editor]

Just a note:  I think this is a great idea.  I would love to have two
separate help systems.  One for authors (simple) and one for
administrators (advanced).  Completely separate.  Perhaps even
different groups.  That way I could simply change passwords on the
groups to determine who can access which.  To me it seems the current
distributed help files is not enough for the admin, and too much for
the average author.  Of course, the question first should perhaps be,
who is going to take the time to write (or at least assemble,
organize, and edit) the help files?

If we do go this route though, there must be clear instructions to a
new user how to download the extra "admin" level help files so they
don't get confused at the lack of documentation. We also need to think
about how the upgrades will work. I take it that each time I download
a new version of PmWiki, I'm also upgrading my wikilib.d directory,
with the latest documentation. (True?).  If we separate the two, we
are requiring admins to make two downloads or risk having our
documentation lagging behind our codebase.

One other thought though, again as a newuser who was blown away by
PmWiki when I first discovered it.  I remember being totally shocked
at how miniscule the download was.  Just took seconds on dialup. I
thought the download had somehow aborted or something!  To make it
even smaller would make it even more "shocking" of an experience!

Cheers,
Caveman



On 3/25/06, kjettil <kjettil at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
> Sandy wrote:
> > Maybe a downloadable cookbook as a separate file, so we've got a local
> > reference?
> >
> > Sandy
> >
> > Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> >
> >> But we also have people who are making a case that the distributed
> >> documentation is already too big, and that the admin-oriented
> >> documentation pages shouldn't be in the distribution.
> >> It's a balancing act, and I'm not sure we have the correct balance
> >> yet or have good guidelines for what goes where.  But it's pretty
> >> clear to me that we don't want to put every conceivable option and
> >> configuration possibility into the distributed docs -- and that's
> >> why we have the Cookbook.  Part of the Cookbook's purpose is to
> >> document many of PmWiki's features and configuration possibilities
> >> that are less commonly used than others.
> >>
> >>
> Being one of those "people" who claim that the distributed documentation
> is too big and not really needed for an operational wiki site, I'd
> certainly support the idea of a separate "admin package".
>
> Presently, more than 50 % of the download is in my view overhead and not
> necessary for the end user, but is still not sufficient for an
> "advanced" administrator or developer.
>
> A separately downloadable "admin package" would make it possible to keep
> an updated "developer manual" on your (these days most likely, portable)
> machine, accessible without unnecessarily loading the pmwiki.org site
> and also accessible offline (important e.g. if you work travelling on a
> train or in a plane).
>
> kjettil
>
> _______________________________________________
> pmwiki-users mailing list
> pmwiki-users at pmichaud.com
> http://host.pmichaud.com/mailman/listinfo/pmwiki-users
>