[pmwiki-users] Does this list inhibit development of good documentation?

Sandy sandy at onebit.ca
Wed Mar 7 13:09:09 CST 2007


Oliver Betz wrote:
> Tegan Dowling wrote:
> 
> [What is *wrong* with DocumentationIndex]
> 
>> I'll bet it's the "more ... reference than ... tutorial" aspect --
>> that a new-comer to it encounters the all-too-common, and hugely
>> frustrating situation, in which one new word or phrase is defined in
>> terms of another one, and a new user has not built up enough
>> background in the application to be able to read through, from
>> beginning to end, without being required to memorize and appreciate an
>> unreasonable number of new terms and concepts for a single pass.
> 
> Excellent explanation. Starting with PmWiki several weeks ago, I 
> fully agree with you.
> 
> But it's doable. Opening a bunch of new tabs in the browser for 
> "thing I have to read later" and reading again and again, one gets 
> the picture after a certain time.
> 
> IMO PmWiki has a rather good documentation compared to other wikis I 
> know. One "problem" is that there are so many features to describe.
> 

The other problem is that there are so many different ways to accomplish 
the same thing. Some are more secure, others require less computer 
knowledge, others work better on one installation, etc.

As with the prebundled wikis, whoever does one should start with a 
single common and simple case.

The ease of doing most things can be scary, until have spent enough time 
with the program to trust it. I spent ages with the local server trying 
to figure out what to replace the word "localhost" with.

Cheers!

Sandy









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