Some feedback on the wiki

[Nicholas Skaggs]

I promised to help give some feedback @ the last vUDS on how well the 
wiki guided me as a new contributor to docs. I've gone through the wiki 
this afternoon and noted it's seen some streamlining since I looked at 
it last cycle. Here's my thoughts in no particular order:

* The divisions and work is more clearly laid out; it's not so confusing 
what system docs vs wiki docs
* The main page; https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam might be a 
bit large with the roles descriptions in the middle. I also left 
confused as to what to do after wanting to join the contributor team. It 
told me what the team did, but not how to do it (apart from joining the 
lp team). https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/Organization does a 
better job, but it points me back to 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam for more info! I'm confused.
* Perhaps link to the contact page in the join the team section? I see 
the "mailing list" but not sure on specifics
* Minor concern on SystemDocumentation/UbuntuDesktopGuide -- what's the 
"temporary note - end included file" text strewn in there?
* On SystemDocumentation/UbuntuDesktopGuide, 'Creating Personal Sandbox 
Branch', you can have them click this link code.launchpad.net/~. Using 
tilda in lp links will autocomplete to there user; Much easier than 
explaining where to find the link to click :-)
* On SystemDocumentation/UbuntuDesktopGuide, For proposing a merge, pics 
might help, or linking out to help on how to do it in the lp docs. It 
can be difficult to figure out the first time
* On SystemDocumentation/GettingStarted, ProofReading section is a bit 
weird to read. I assume you want me to go to help.u.c and review the 
listed documentation of the latest release? And then?
* This info, 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/SystemDocumentation/Repository, seems 
to be duplicated amongst the pages (sometimes better, sometimes worse). 
Probably should just link to this page/section as needed. For example on 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/SystemDocumentation/UbuntuDesktopGuide 
much of the same material is presented.
* Ohh I just found SystemDocumentation/Tasks. Cool. And I see there is 
/Editing /Checking /Submitting. Again, probably should point this out 
and use these pages rather than duplicating info. I see bzr explained 
again in several places. This looks nice enough to follow along as each 
step.
* /Translation looks interesting; I didn't really see this mentioned 
anywhere. I imagine this work might be a bit more specific and not so 
newbie friendly.

Most of my comments above had a tweak of two suggested in them. However 
I've got a few suggestions of broader changes which I'll include now.

Suggested ideas:
* Remove roles from main page, and migrate any material to 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/Organization. Point out this 
page prominently.
* Provide some text on helping to bridge the gap once you've joined the 
contributor team (which is the assumed role a new person will take) even 
just links to 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/SystemDocumentation and 
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/Wiki would help. I would 
suggest an actual tasks page or links from the bulleted list of tasks.
* Feature the steps , or subpages more prominently. It seems like I can 
follow /Tasks to /Editing, then /Checking and finally /Submitting.

Overall, it was easier to follow. I liked the define roles, and the 
defined steps. It was a little confusing finding out some of the useful 
pages, but I think most everything needed to guide me along is there.

I hope this helps a bit seeing the world through fresh eyes. Do take 
this in the spirit it was intended. I know how tough wikis are to keep 
straight and clean (If anyone wants to come find warts in /QATeam, 
please do!). Thanks to all the docs contributors for helping making 
trusty an awesome release!

Nicholas