[Zope] Documentation: distributed load

[Ragnar Beer]

Wow! Lots of postings concerning the documentation! I liked the idea 
with the news, because threads would already improve the situation 
quite a lot. I tried the eGroups search but didn't like the 
interface. I also tried the archive at www.progressive-comp.com but 
my eyes just won't read that tiny white text on black background 
without me getting a serious headache. Also the problem with threads 
is that they're only threads - not topics, not much intelligence 
behind them. What I love(d) so much about books like the 
perl-cookbook is that you can look at the table of contents and if 
you have a basic understanding of what your problem is about you will 
find the solution almost instantly. I think the secret here is a well 
organized table of contents (toc).

I liked the idea that I posted earlier (of course;). I think it would be great
if some people would collect all the postings concerning a certain 
topic. But that would also mean a lot of work for those poor guys.

Here is another idea that I just got on my way to work. It's based on 
the cookbook table of contents idea. If somebody (say DC) would 
release a table of contents, i.e. a hierarchical list of topics or 
catchwords, everyone could use them like this:

Let's assume a very simple toc:
dtml
     dtml-var

Now if someone wants to post a question concerning dtml-var he can 
put [topic:dtml-var] somewhere in the text. Everyone receiving this 
message can copy or transfer it (via filter) into the mailbox 
"dtml-var". If someone who doesn't know about the toc posts a 
question it's no problem as long as the ones who answer the question 
do. The load of categorizing would be distributed very well. If the 
toc is created thoughtfully it also serves as a mind map to zope. 
Multiple catchwords per posting possible. Apart from putting together 
the toc and posting it nothing would have to be done. (Perhaps later 
a squishdot-lile interface could be built.)

Sorry, this has become quite long. What do you think about it?

Ragnar