On 8/3/07, Scott Carr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > The reason the Wiki is a GOOD direction for this is that, as Wikipedia, > Gentoo-wiki.com, and others show, updating a Wiki and keeping it > current, is vastly easier to do than a document. People are more apt to > fix a quick issue they find, than if they have to download the document, > fix it, then post it somewhere. > > With the Wiki, a change can be made right there. > >
I think a wiki can be very useful in that regard and there are methods for expanding its utility, a couple of which I discuss below. My problems with using Mediawiki flow from it being the wrong tool for developing word processor-style, long, formatted documents. But I see no real problems with using a wiki so long as the limitations are recognized; i.e., the wiki could be a great resource for developing guides, but is the wrong tool for writing and formatting them. Expanding the wiki's utility: 1. On encouraging users to contribute to the wiki, as I mentioned before, I think a tool accessible from the OOo Help menu for submitting contributions to the wiki would help immensely. An odt-to-mediawiki xslt incorporated in such a process would also help. An alternative or further option might be to implement OOWriter as a Mediawiki WebDAV client. < http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/WebDAV>. 2. A related barrier is that many people will forego the opportunity if forced to learn wiki markup to make contributions. An option to use a WYSYIWYG editor with the wiki would encourage contributions. The Mediawiki resource page on this issue is at < http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wysiwyg#State_of_WYSIWYG_and_WikiMedia>. An alternative or further option would be to contribute to WebDAV development on MediaWiki. <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/WebDAV> (OOo is already a WebDAV client.) See also <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editor_support>. If such an editor were implemented, attention should be given to make the editor toolbar icons match OOo icons for identical functions. 3. A prominent link in page templates to a page listing resource tools for editing Mediawiki pages would provide further encouragement for users to contribute. 4. Longer term, some thought might be given to the potential need to have access to wiki content when people are working offline. E.g., many people still do not have internet access and others must work offline at irregular times such as when traveling. One option might be an ability to download a dump of the wiki pages, e.g., in compressed format as a set of static HTML pages, which then also might be distributable on a CD for people who have no internet access. BTW, regarding the problem of transforming absolute URLs into relative URLs that I discussed in an earlier post, you might experiment with two programming hooks in Mediawiki, GetLocalURL and GetFullURL. See < http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:MediaWiki_hooks>. Documentation is sparse, but the short descriptions sound worthy of investigation. Best regards, Marbux
