what next?

[Karsten Wade]

On Tue, 2006-11-07 at 14:46 +0000, Dimitris Glezos wrote:

> I think it would be better to avoid having too much information in 
> FAQ-style, since although referencable, they are not very readable or 
> usable as a manual.
> 
> On the other hand, it would be great if we had that information in the 
> guides/chapters and compile a set of FAQ that the answer is like "More 
> information for this can be found <there>. For customizing it, see 
> Chapter <Foo>, paragraph <Bar>".

Right, we have to have a process that integrates the two properly.
Regardless of our individual preferences, knowledgebase-style content is
very popular and useful.

We might be able to think of this as part of the modularizing of
content.  That is, can we write content in such a way that it is both
useful in a kbase and fits into an overall document?  Perhaps, perhaps
not.

> I believe the most difficult part of doing the Handbook would be to 
> decide on a good hierarchy that strikes a good balance between 
> usability/quality and reference-able.

Yes, and we might want to strike toward the former and let other works
do the latter, which is where formal (kbase) and informal (forums, etc.)
fit in.

> >>> http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/ref-guide/
> >>> http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/security-guide/
> >>> (e.g. the vpn question)
> >>> http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/selinux-guide/
> >>> http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/step-guide/

> Who should we contact to move some strings to free those docs? It would 
> be *great* if we could use them.

We[1] called in Max Spevack some months ago to help make this happen,
since I wasn't able to get it completed myself.  Anyone who wants to
lend support to this idea, please email Max directly with a personal
plea, useful cases, etc.; he agrees with us, but it is helpful to know
exactly what the community wants when we are discussing schedules with
RHEL team members.

- Karsten
[1] We == Rahul, Paul, and myself
-- 
Karsten Wade, RHCE, 108 Editor    ^     Fedora Documentation Project 
 Sr. Developer Relations Mgr.     |  fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
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