[Zope] RE: [Zope-dev] Documentation Announcement

[Jon Ide]

Pam,

This is welcome news!

Let me give you some feedback from the perspective of a Zope newbie. When I
first learned about Zope I was quite excited about it, but when I started to
delve into it a little further I was somewhat discouraged. Everything is in
such flux, and it's hard to know what's current and what's obsolete. I asked
a question or two about examples in documents on the web site and was told
that they were obsolete but if I look at line such-and-such in the source
code...

My situation is probably like a lot of people's in that I'd like to get a
handle on what Zope is and how to use it, but I don't have a mandate from my
company to spend time on it. I'm basically trying to evaluate it in my spare
time, and if it's as cool as it sounds then I will try to get my company
interested. What I don't have is time to read all the source code and
monitor what's being checked in and out. Like a lot of people who will be
interested in Zope, I am new to Python as well. I'd be a lot more inclined
to plow through source code, though, if I had a short doc that told me where
to start and what the pieces are and how they fit together.

So a couple of things that would be invaluable for someone like me:

   a) A big-picture roadmap, something to orient the newcomer. 

   b) A substantive real-life example. Examples are always the best way to
learn how to use new software tools. You folks are using Zope in the real
world. Is there an example application that you can publish (i.e., source
code)? Preferably this would be an example showing Zope's use to access
databases on the back-end and handling e-commerce (credit card transactions,
shopping carts, etc.).

It sounds like you have a better mousetrap. Show me how to use it and I'll
beat a path to your door.

Thanks for your time.

Jon Ide
ETC
jide@etcconnect.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Pam Crosby [mailto:pam@digicool.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 11:17 AM
To: 'zope@zope.org'; 'zope-dev@zope.org'
Subject: [Zope-dev] Documentation Announcement


Hello Zope Community,

Digital Creations is dedicated to provide up to date documentation.  I
have accepted the technical writer position to provide a focal point for
all documents.   We are commited to producing quality document and have
established a plan to deliver.  As part of our new documentation
process, we will not release a new version until it is reasonably
documented.  The technical writer will publish the documents on the
http://www.zope.org site.  Along with new releases, bundled text files
(changes.txt, install.txt & readme.txt) will provide necessary
information about the individual projects.
 
All DC documents will be available as Guides and HowTo's.  The Guides
and  HowTo's will be available on the new Zope site and it promises to
be exciting.  In the works is the Zope Developer's Guide (ZDG) and the
Zope Administration Guide (ZAG). The developer's guide will contain
information targeted towards the developers.  The administration guide
will provide tidbits helpful for the content managers.  

Please feel free to submit suggestions for documentation efforts, they
should be posted to Collector.  Thanks and hello!
 
 -- 
 Pam Crosby		mailto:pam@digicool.com	
 Technical Writer	http://www.zope.org
 Digital Creations


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