Getting started wiki page

[Kjeldgaard Morten]

On 12/01/2009, at 05.10, Jonathan Marsden wrote:
>
> Also, I think adding a table of contents to the page would be good (I
> just did this!).

Great, that makes it easier to get back to the section you are working  
on! Ideally, I would have liked some kind of check-box for every  
exercise that people could tick off to mark how far they've gotten,  
but I don't think that's possible within the Moinmoin framework.

I started the exercise sections as a way to put in links to explore,  
but with the implicit message "come back here when you're done  
reading". In general, I think the problem with the Wiki approach where  
everything is marked by a link is that it's easy to get lost and  
distracted. Therefore, when you add a link to the document, consider  
formulating it as an exercise for people to do.

>  One idea: Perhaps each major section should
> have a "Further Resources" bit at the end which links to more detail
> about the particular topic concerned
> (Launchpad/Triage/bugfixing/packaging/whatever)?

I think it's better to save all the "Further Reading" links until the  
end of the document - where they could be organized in a table or list  
corresponding to the content. The reason is not to distract the reader  
too much from the flow of the document and exercises. So again: if  
there's a link you think is vital for the reader to visit, consider  
formulating it as an exercise, possibly with some questions to answer  
afterward.

> I'm slightly confused as to the expected path users (wannabe community
> members) would take to get to this page (say from http://www.ubuntu.com 
> )
> and (if they are MOTU-wannabes) from here to MOTU-specific material.
> How does the new more general GettingStarted page you are creating
> relate to existing non-MOTU-specific pages of a somewhat similar  
> nature,
> such as https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDevelopment and
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ContributeToUbuntu ?


The current "Getting Started wit h MOTU" document is the one we've  
been pointing newcomers at, but I think that document misses the mark  
and turns away a lot of not-so-technical people. On the other hand,  
MOTU-hopefuls also need to learn about the workflow, so the general  
introduction is a fair requirement before going into the more MOTU- 
specific stuff. So my feeling is that all community wannabes should be  
pointed to this document as their first step, and the document should  
help them find out where they best can help out.

Cheers,
Morten