docWikis

Wed Oct 26 09:50:48 EDT 2005

I have no problem using whatever standards we agree upon. I am not sure
I possess the html skills to do that - but whatever, I can learn.

I chose that particular wiki site because it appears to be unlimited and
free (which always makes me nervous). It is a site that allows for easy
editing of each page, and easy creation of new pages. I am not committed
to using that particular site, I just wanted to get a sense of how much
work would be involved. It would be a decent amount of work, but nothing
insurmountable. I can take a few minutes during lunch today to see if
the files on that site would be portable to another site if need be.

So far, I have only put in a small part of the dictionary (about halfway
through the Cs), and that is without any internal links.

I really believe that getting people to use it would not be too
difficult. It would become a natural process - one that extends from
discussions on this list. Think about the process of finding bugs -
first we discuss them on here, then when a bug is fully identified one
of us puts it on bugzilla. This would be the same - first we discuss how
to use a given command (which happens constantly on this list) then one
of us adds the explanation to the appropriate wiki page. I think the
others on the list will use it when they realize it is easy, and that it
saves them time. It saves them time because in the future they can refer
to a specific page on the wiki site for a given explanation, rather than
constantly re-explaining the issue each time it is raised anew on this
list.

If I keep going with that or a similar site, I would envision three
steps:

1) put in the dictionary and how-to docs
2) go back and add internal links
3) look through the archives of this list and add in any explanations
that seem appropriate for each command

After that, we can add in other sections, like for links to the various
rev pages, or whatever else we want.

Take care,

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: use-revolution-bounces at lists.runrev.com
[mailto:use-revolution-bounces at lists.runrev.com] On Behalf Of Marielle
Lange
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 7:56 PM
To: use Revolution How to
Subject: RE: docWikis

Jonathan,

Congrats for your website. Nice addition to the family. Feel free to  
step on my toes... you are welcome to dance on them if you fancy :-).

You insisted that you did it to check out how difficult it would be.  
Point taken.

But the point made by Tim is an important one. You will have user  
contribution when you successfully persuade them that the work they  
put into this will not be wasted. In fact, I didn't make any attempt  
to upload the doc on my own wiki because I was aware that structure  
had to precede content. I didn't take too much time transferring the  
many notes and snippets I have on my computer onto the wiki for this  
very reason too.

Your document is completely unstructured (I understand this is the  
source of the doc itself):
<P>altID</B> property</FONT><FONT size=3> (any object)</FONT></ 
P><FONT color=#606060 size=2>
<P>Platform support: </P></FONT><FONT size=1>
<P>Introduced in version 1.0</P></FONT>
<P>Specifies an alternate ID for objects.</P><B><FONT face="Courier  
New" size=1>
<P>set the altID of <I>object</I> to <I>IDNumber</P></B></I></ 
FONT><FONT face="Courier New" size=1>
<P>put the altID of this card into myID</P>
<P>repeat while the altID of stack myStack <> 0</P></FONT><FONT  
color=#606060 size=2>
<P>See also: </FONT><FONT size=3>ID property </FONT></P><B><FONT  
color=#606060 size=2>

Can you control the css behind your wiki pages?

This suggests you do:
         <LINK REL="stylesheet" TYPE="text/css" HREF="/otherpages/ 
red_and_gray_full_screen/wiki.css">
         <LINK REL="stylesheet" TYPE="text/css" media="print"  
HREF="http://www.seedwiki.com/otherpages/seedwiki/wiki_print.css">

But can you add new tags within your wiki page that match css  
divisions? This is what I wanted to do in my wiki before trying to  
get more persons contribute. With divisions and conventions, the  
material can be very easily exchanged.

So what about the idea of standards... Only got two respondents so  
far and one is myself.
Would users of this list conform to standards if I have the  
initiative to design some?  If you want to get a poor soul (me) spend  
a few days on this, you should consider taking 1 minute to answer the  
very short survey at:
http://revolution.lexicall.org/wiki/tiki-take_survey.php?surveyId=1

By experience, I know that many persons like to answer... do the job,  
spend much much time on it... then when you have finished, if I am  
satisfied with the work you have done, I may end up using it....  
Comments, feedback? No, too early. I will wait for you to present me  
with a finished product and then I may give you some feedback if I  
find the time for it.

So many great things haven't been realized because of this  
attitude ;-). If you believe we should go for a reliable revdoc  
system... one that can easily be moved from one place to another  
without too much cost if we discover that the first environment we  
try has intrinsic limits or if we want to take advantage of  
unexpected changes in technology... help make it happen. At the very  
minimum, indicate whether you will be really to adopt the standards  
if they are put in place. I am ready to spend my energy designing  
good standards. I am not much ready to spend a lot of it harassing  
members of this list to start using them. The spider guy moto is that  
with great power comes great responsibilities.... I believe the  
opposite is also true: with responsibilities come power. We can wait  
for revolution to present us with a frequently updated documentation  
system (which honestly, will never happen), or we can have it done  
ourselves, thanks to the addition of small contributions from all  
members. But for this, we need a momemtum. One or two activists will  
not be enough to make it work.

Marielle
------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------
Marielle Lange (PhD),  Psycholinguist

Alternative emails: mlange at blueyonder.co.uk, M.Lange at ed.ac.uk
Homepage                                                            
http://homepages.lexicall.org/mlange/
Easy access to lexical databases                    http://lexicall.org
Supporting Education Technologists              http:// 
revolution.lexicall.org

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