[wp-docs] WordPress Help Manual on WP Academy (James Gill)

Sun Sep 23 17:31:41 UTC 2012

>"But I've been seriously thinking about this, what needs
> to happen (again IMHO) is an open-source Winhelp-clone system powered by
> WordPress, that would be equivalent to my semi-proprietary system see for
> instance:

I'd recommend almost anything *but* a "winhelp clone". For me, a
platform-specific format (especially Windows) both goes against the spirit
of WordPress and is a cumbersome, anachronistic way of doing things.

I've developed Windows help since--well, since there was a Windows. I've
also created technical documentation for 20 years or so. Tool-wise, the
answer is always "what creates something that helps the user be the most
successful?" I think the answer can be provided with many tools, including
WordPress or a wiki.

If I were to pick one thing WordPress users likely want most, it's the
ability to search and find clear, specific answers to specific questions.
And, if I were to change only one thing about the Codex, for example, I'd
add more visuals.

-james

:::
:::
::: Today's Topics:
:::
:::    1. Re: WordPress Help Manual on WP Academy (Andrea Rennick)
:::    2. Re: WordPress Help Manual on WP Academy (Lorelle on WordPress)
:::    3. Re: WordPress Help Manual on WP Academy (Marc Beneteau)
:::
:::
::: ----------------------------------------------------------------------
:::
::: Message: 1
::: Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2012 10:16:42 -0300
::: From: Andrea Rennick <andrea at ronandandrea.com>
::: Subject: Re: [wp-docs] WordPress Help Manual on WP Academy
::: To: WordPress Documentation <wp-docs at lists.automattic.com>
::: Message-ID:
::: 	<CAJzjkbcWvOKLzeurv3ChQqHut7-mcT8zb2RZv0LFL_X+ivfMEA at mail.gmail.com>
::: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
:::
::: "what needs to happen (again IMHO) is an open-source Winhelp-clone system
::: powered by WordPress,"
:::
::: The user manual I mentioned above is powered by WordPress.
:::
::: I do appreciate your ideas and enthusiasm. Right now, we want to see the
::: user guide pushed out ASAP. Then we can talk about if & when and how to
::: make the actual docs later.
:::
::: a.
:::
:::
::: On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 8:57 AM, Marc Beneteau <docs at manifesting.net>
::: wrote:
::: --
::: --
::: Andrea Rennick, http://wpebooks.com and http://ronandandrea.com
::: Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies http://rml.me/aio
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::: ------------------------------
:::
::: Message: 2
::: Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2012 16:17:24 -0700
::: From: Lorelle on WordPress <lorelleonwordpress at gmail.com>
::: Subject: Re: [wp-docs] WordPress Help Manual on WP Academy
::: To: WordPress Documentation <wp-docs at lists.automattic.com>
::: Message-ID:
::: 	<CAN2v4ZROJJiantnx78iDoXA5=6h5PhVnFU5JBNWT3pbaPYcTqA at mail.gmail.com>
::: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
:::
::: WordPress.tv folks can be reached through the WordPress Foundation.
:::
::: Lorelle
:::
:::
::: On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 4:57 AM, Marc Beneteau <docs at manifesting.net>
::: wrote:
:::
:::> Guys,
:::>
:::> I do appreciate your invitations and believe me, the "gears are
:::> turning".
:::> The issue for me -- please allow me to speak plainly and if offense is
:::> taken I apologize in advance  -- is that IMHO Wiki and Media Wiki are
:::> not
:::> suitable platforms for writing technical documentation, and perhaps one
:::> of
:::> the reasons why the WordPress documentation is not up to the same
:::> quality
:::> as WordPress code.  But I've been seriously thinking about this, what
:::> needs
:::> to happen (again IMHO) is an open-source Winhelp-clone system powered by
:::> WordPress, that would be equivalent to my semi-proprietary system see
:::> for
:::> instance:
:::>
:::> http://wpacademy.tv/about-wordpress-webinar-marathon.htm
:::>
:::> But would also be multi-authoring (which mine is not).  I think its
:::> doable, we just need to find coders, I can project-manage perhaps.
:::> Lorelle
:::> you know some of the people at wordpress.tv.,  I have an old email of
:::> yours that mentions some major documentation effort happening there, can
:::> you send me personal mail marc at wpacademy.tv with that information
:::> again?   Anyone else interested as well, just let me know, this would be
:::> WAY cool if we could pull it off.
:::>
:::> Thanks
:::>
:::> Marc
:::>
:::>
:::>
:::>
:::>
:::>
:::> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 7:13 PM, Andrea Rennick
:::> <andrea at ronandandrea.com>wrote:
:::>
:::>> As noted above, there's two ways you can contribute:
:::>>
:::>> - jump in to the codex and start writing / editing / correcting
:::>> information
:::>>
:::>> - help with the user manual, which right now is a bunch of HTML pages.
:::>>
:::>> This may or may not change. there are PLENTY of pages right now we need
:::>> people to edit so we can push an official user guide to actual users.
:::>> That's way more important to use that what software is used to produce
:::>> it
:::>> (at this time).
:::>>
:::>> If you really want to jump in, get working, and earn a name for
:::>> yourself,
:::>> the user manual is the best place to start. We would honestly love to
:::>> have
:::>> you contribute. See this page
:::>> http://make.wordpress.org/support/user-manual/ for the current work
:::>> list
:::>> and you can also let me know personally which ones you'd like to start
:::>> with. We have a weekly chat in IRC on Thursdays at 5pm Eastern for
:::>> discussing specifics.
:::>>
:::>>
:::>> a.
:::>>
:::>>
:::>> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 5:29 PM, Marc Beneteau
:::>> <docs at manifesting.net>wrote:
:::>>
:::>>> mm, sorry for wasting everyone's time, let me take up this
:::>>> conversation
:::>>> privately.
:::>>>
:::>>> I am just trying to understand if its possible to have a
:::>>> Wiki-compatible
:::>>> (multiple-authors) system that does what Winhelp does.  Winhelp is the
:::>>> documentation format for virtually all commercial software for a
:::>>> reason, I
:::>>> would love it if we could do something similar for WordPress
:::>>>
:::>>> Marc
:::>>>
:::>>>
:::>>>
:::>>> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 4:18 PM, Juan Correa
:::>>> <pottersys at gmail.com>wrote:
:::>>>
:::>>>> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 5:15 PM, Marc Beneteau
:::>>>> <docs at manifesting.net>wrote:
:::>>>>
:::>>>>> Has there been any interest or any discussion in building a
:::>>>>> Wordpress
:::>>>>> manual on Media Wiki?  I could get behind that.
:::>>>>>
:::>>>>
:::>>>> In fact, the WordPress Codex is powered by MediaWiki:
:::>>>> http://codex.wordpress.org/Codex:About
:::>>>>
:::>>>> --
:::>>>> Juan Correa Poblete
:::>>>> PS Labs (http://www.pslabs.cl)
:::>>>> +56-9-99193873
:::>>>>
:::>>>> _______________________________________________
:::>>>> wp-docs mailing list
:::>>>> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::>>>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>>>>
:::>>>>
:::>>>
:::>>> _______________________________________________
:::>>> wp-docs mailing list
:::>>> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::>>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>>>
:::>>>
:::>>
:::>>
:::>> --
:::>> --
:::>> Andrea Rennick, http://wpebooks.com and http://ronandandrea.com
:::>> Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies http://rml.me/aio
:::>>
:::>>
:::>> _______________________________________________
:::>> wp-docs mailing list
:::>> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>>
:::>>
:::>
:::> _______________________________________________
:::> wp-docs mailing list
:::> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>
:::>
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::: ------------------------------
:::
::: Message: 3
::: Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2012 23:05:30 -0400
::: From: Marc Beneteau <docs at manifesting.net>
::: Subject: Re: [wp-docs] WordPress Help Manual on WP Academy
::: To: WordPress Documentation <wp-docs at lists.automattic.com>
::: Message-ID:
::: 	<CADZaJgOiBAywoCtko15p+=qNQJn8VG1WCigrGdS9fxHiObC9NA at mail.gmail.com>
::: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
:::
::: I appreciate everyone's feedback and assistance. At this point I think my
::: best contribution is to develop an open-source documentation platform
::: capable of holding the quality of documentation that I would like to
::: contribute rather than making contributions into a legacy system (ie a
::: system that is not up to par with commercial systems).  My aim is to do
::: make something similar to the semi-proprietary system that I have
::: developed
::: http://wpacademy.tv/ww3.htm but in GPL and multi-authoring and based on
::: Wordpress as the master repository (my system uses H&M as master
::: repository).  Anyone who wants to join me please write marc at wpacademy.tv.
::: I have also contacted WordPress Foundation as per Lorelle's direction.
::: thanks
::: Marc
:::
::: On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 7:17 PM, Lorelle on WordPress <
::: lorelleonwordpress at gmail.com> wrote:
:::
:::> WordPress.tv folks can be reached through the WordPress Foundation.
:::>
:::> Lorelle
:::>
:::>
:::>
:::> On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 4:57 AM, Marc Beneteau
:::> <docs at manifesting.net>wrote:
:::>
:::>> Guys,
:::>>
:::>> I do appreciate your invitations and believe me, the "gears are
:::>> turning".  The issue for me -- please allow me to speak plainly and if
:::>> offense is taken I apologize in advance  -- is that IMHO Wiki and Media
:::>> Wiki are not suitable platforms for writing technical documentation,
:::>> and
:::>> perhaps one of the reasons why the WordPress documentation is not up to
:::>> the
:::>> same quality as WordPress code.  But I've been seriously thinking about
:::>> this, what needs to happen (again IMHO) is an open-source Winhelp-clone
:::>> system powered by WordPress, that would be equivalent to my
:::>> semi-proprietary system see for instance:
:::>>
:::>> http://wpacademy.tv/about-wordpress-webinar-marathon.htm
:::>>
:::>> But would also be multi-authoring (which mine is not).  I think its
:::>> doable, we just need to find coders, I can project-manage perhaps.
:::>> Lorelle
:::>> you know some of the people at wordpress.tv.,  I have an old email of
:::>> yours that mentions some major documentation effort happening there,
:::>> can
:::>> you send me personal mail marc at wpacademy.tv with that information
:::>> again?   Anyone else interested as well, just let me know, this would
:::>> be
:::>> WAY cool if we could pull it off.
:::>>
:::>> Thanks
:::>>
:::>> Marc
:::>>
:::>>
:::>>
:::>>
:::>>
:::>>
:::>> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 7:13 PM, Andrea Rennick
:::>> <andrea at ronandandrea.com>wrote:
:::>>
:::>>> As noted above, there's two ways you can contribute:
:::>>>
:::>>> - jump in to the codex and start writing / editing / correcting
:::>>> information
:::>>>
:::>>> - help with the user manual, which right now is a bunch of HTML pages.
:::>>>
:::>>> This may or may not change. there are PLENTY of pages right now we
:::>>> need
:::>>> people to edit so we can push an official user guide to actual users.
:::>>> That's way more important to use that what software is used to produce
:::>>> it
:::>>> (at this time).
:::>>>
:::>>> If you really want to jump in, get working, and earn a name for
:::>>> yourself, the user manual is the best place to start. We would
:::>>> honestly
:::>>> love to have you contribute. See this page
:::>>> http://make.wordpress.org/support/user-manual/ for the current work
:::>>> list and you can also let me know personally which ones you'd like to
:::>>> start
:::>>> with. We have a weekly chat in IRC on Thursdays at 5pm Eastern for
:::>>> discussing specifics.
:::>>>
:::>>>
:::>>> a.
:::>>>
:::>>>
:::>>> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 5:29 PM, Marc Beneteau
:::>>> <docs at manifesting.net>wrote:
:::>>>
:::>>>> mm, sorry for wasting everyone's time, let me take up this
:::>>>> conversation
:::>>>> privately.
:::>>>>
:::>>>> I am just trying to understand if its possible to have a
:::>>>> Wiki-compatible (multiple-authors) system that does what Winhelp
:::>>>> does.
:::>>>> Winhelp is the documentation format for virtually all commercial
:::>>>> software
:::>>>> for a reason, I would love it if we could do something similar for
:::>>>> WordPress
:::>>>>
:::>>>> Marc
:::>>>>
:::>>>>
:::>>>>
:::>>>> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 4:18 PM, Juan Correa
:::>>>> <pottersys at gmail.com>wrote:
:::>>>>
:::>>>>> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 5:15 PM, Marc Beneteau
:::>>>>> <docs at manifesting.net>wrote:
:::>>>>>
:::>>>>>> Has there been any interest or any discussion in building a
:::>>>>>> Wordpress
:::>>>>>> manual on Media Wiki?  I could get behind that.
:::>>>>>>
:::>>>>>
:::>>>>> In fact, the WordPress Codex is powered by MediaWiki:
:::>>>>> http://codex.wordpress.org/Codex:About
:::>>>>>
:::>>>>> --
:::>>>>> Juan Correa Poblete
:::>>>>> PS Labs (http://www.pslabs.cl)
:::>>>>> +56-9-99193873
:::>>>>>
:::>>>>> _______________________________________________
:::>>>>> wp-docs mailing list
:::>>>>> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::>>>>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>>>>>
:::>>>>>
:::>>>>
:::>>>> _______________________________________________
:::>>>> wp-docs mailing list
:::>>>> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::>>>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>>>>
:::>>>>
:::>>>
:::>>>
:::>>> --
:::>>> --
:::>>> Andrea Rennick, http://wpebooks.com and http://ronandandrea.com
:::>>> Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies http://rml.me/aio
:::>>>
:::>>>
:::>>> _______________________________________________
:::>>> wp-docs mailing list
:::>>> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::>>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>>>
:::>>>
:::>>
:::>> _______________________________________________
:::>> wp-docs mailing list
:::>> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::>> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>>
:::>>
:::>
:::> _______________________________________________
:::> wp-docs mailing list
:::> wp-docs at lists.automattic.com
:::> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-docs
:::>
:::>
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::: End of wp-docs Digest, Vol 83, Issue 9
::: **************************************
:::