[ZDP] Re: [Zope] The agony of the ZOPE Documentation

[Maik Roeder]

Hi !

Chris Withers wrote:
> 
> jiva@devware.com wrote:
> > I'm sorry, but I have to say, the ZOPE documentation, despite efforts
> > to improve it, is absolutely, positively horrible.  Not because the
> > content isn't there, but because the tools to access it simply suck.
> 
> Gotta agree with this :(

Have you seen the logo of the ZDP site ? ;-) 
 
> > Additionally, the zdp web site is a real nice idea that is SO poorly
> > executed IMO as to make it totally unusable.

Thanks for telling me what you think about the ZDP site. The portal is
only 24 days old, and we still need to fill in all the subjects and
topics. Do think that the basic idea of offering different portals
for different communities (Beginners, Developers and so on) is a bad
idea ? What do you think about the organisation in Subjects/Topics ?

> ZDP is currently undergoing a lot of development and unfortunately I
> have to agree that it isn't there yet...

We desparately need people helping ! 
 
> Unfortunately, no-one is getting paid to do it, and everyone who is
> working on it would probably get fired if they spent enough time on it
> to REALLY get the job done...

The problem is that not all stakeholders are working on this together.
The ZDP project has got another server than the main Zope site, and
there are only a few spare time developers working on this site. If
we could work together with Digital Creations and perhaps on the
same server as Zope.org, things would be much easier !
 
> I reckon there's about 25 man weeks of work to do based on 5 people
> spending:
> -1 week to build the tools
> -1 week to plan the structure of the documentation
> -3 weeks to get ALL the Zope documentation linked in one place (which is
> what zdp is supposed to be...)
> 
> So, has anyone got the cash? ;-)

This is a job that only DC can do right now. The ZDP has "only" got
the aim to point to existing stuff. Restructuring the existing docs
is not our job.
 
> Once this is done, it will be less work to keep that documentation up to
> date. Hopefully, eventually, all documentation would end up on
> zdp.zope.org and not just be linked from it...

At least we can dream, can't we ? ;-)
 
> > You can't even browse
> > the documentation without clicking through a thousand different
> > links.
> 
> I agree here too :(

What documentation do you mean ? 
 
> (I can give you specific examples of how to improve the site
> > if you want.)

I really want to hear all your ideas !
 
> Send them to zdp@zope.org, in fact, better still, JOIN zdp@zope.org and
> go and make the changes yourself :-)

It would be nice to get some help from the whole Zope community.

Anyone who would like to give some ideas is more than welcome !
 
Greetings,

Maik Röder

-- 
Open Source is "about being able to work together with people you've
never  met, on projects that  are in  a constant state  of flux,  on 
a time schedule  that would  cause a  hummingbird's  head to  spin."
Paul Ferris, http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/1593/1/