Rehashing wikis

[Jeff Schering]

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 23:51:09 +0000, Matthew East
<matthew.east at breathe.com> wrote:
> hi,
> 
> I went into #ubuntu-doc this evening and had a discussion about the
> state of ubuntu online documents. It is my view that the docs online,
> while excellent, are a bit difficult to find, being as how there is lots
> of information in the Support section of the Website, and lots in the
> wikis. mako helpfully told me that the view is for the better drafted
> wikis to be integrated into the main website eventually, and encouraged
> me to improve any wikis.
>
> I have very little linux/coding skills but I am a lawyer and do have
> some drafting skills so I thought that a way I could help the ubuntu
> project might be to try and clarify some of the wikis, given that they
> tend to grow up in a piecemeal fashion, and this does not help their
> clarity.

Yes, the wiki pages are in need of pruning and consolidation. Consider
that there is both a Docbook page and a DocBook page!

The structure you imposed is very clear, easy to follow, and logical.
I'm jealous!

I added a Purpose section at the very beginning. It allows people to
find out fairly quickly if the page has the information they are
looking for. A purpose section also includes many of the keywords that
people may be looking for, and moves the page further up in the search
results.

Perhaps every page should have Purpose, Table of Contents, and
Overview sections. (Should they be called sections or chapters? Me, I
like sections.)

The title of the page doesn't seem right to me, but I can't
immediately think of an alternative. "RestrictedFormats" doesn't
really explain the contents very well. The page describes how to
obtain additional formats more than it tells you about what formats
are not available.

> Thanks for your attention, and if people know any WIKI's that they would
> like rehashed, but just don't have the time, then let me know and I'll
> have a go. I am keen to help! I repeat that my changes can easily be
> undone.

May I suggest the DocBook and Docbook pages?

Cheers,
Jeff