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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [DNG] What should an Install Guide accomplish?
Date: 2019-01-01 18:50
From: [email protected]
To: Michael <[email protected]>
On 2019-01-01 17:34, Michael wrote:
Hi golinux and everyone else,
Okay, I’m breaking this topic off from the ‘Added desktop-live to the
install
guides’ as it seems we have a much higher, philosophical level decision
to
make before we can continue with editing the Devuan Install Guide.
Which is:
== What should an Install Guide accomplish?
Before that, it might be good for you to understand a little better
where Devuan is coming from.
# # #
My take is that an Install Guide is a complete set of instructions that
a
person can follow to fully accomplish the task. There are no
ambiguities
presented to the user, as it is literally do step a), do step b), do
step
c) ...
As explained elsewhere. These documents were originally created for
inclusion on the ascii isos and have been re-purposed to go on the
website. They were never intended as a complete set of instructions. Are
you even aware of dev1fanboy's wiki?
https://git.devuan.org/dev1fanboy/Upgrade-Install-Devuan
Or the friends of devaun wiki?
https://friendsofdevuan.org/doku.php
Each step should be fully explained and if there is more than one
primary
method of doing any of the steps, then each method is explained. In
this
case my take is that both Nix and Windows instructions should be
available.
See below.
# # Minor points
= I am fully against against repeating any information on a website.
As doing
so almost always leads to discrepancies between the difference sources.
If
the Devuan site is using a CMS of some sort, then a single source
should be
able to be created and block inclusions can be then placed anywhere
else on
the site as needed. [1]
The site is intricately hand-coded in markdown. Not my doing; I
inherited it and have learned to live with it.
= I do think that anything a user needs to know to make an intelligent
decision should be either on the page or directly linked to. If linked
to,
then clicking the link should not close or overwrite the Install Guide
page.
The best documemntation will be useless if no one reads it. See below.
Isn't that what a scrollwheel click is for?
= For an Install Guide I’m against ‘Minimalism.’ My feeling is that
not
giving total, and literally an over abundance of information, not only
directly inhibits and stops people from doing the Install, but also
creates
vast negative word of mouth from those who attempt the Install but
can’t
complete it because they aren’t given enough information to physically
be
able to follow it.
Even though information is already available on the site and elsewhere,
quite often there will be questions that could be readily answered with
a little effort on the user's part. So it is not a lack of information
problem but a "you can't fix stupid" problem. Bloating the guide won't
change that human behavior.
= If golinux agrees to ‘an over abundance of information approach,’ I
have no
issue re-writing the whole guide. (As you may have noticed I’m a bit
gabby.)
I will need someone with a Windows box to QC those instructions.
I am a minimalist personally as is the target audience of this distro.
We are not seeking to court desktop users and overtake the desktop
market. In fact, we considered launching this distro without ANY
desktop!! That would have left desktop development to derivatives of
which we have many. So I think you're not understanding who we are,
where we are coming from and where we want to go.
Feel free to open a project in our gitlab for us to review.
# # #
Okay, that’s my fairly opinionated opinion. I think ultimately this is
golinux’s decision, but please everyone else jump in with yea’s, nay’s,
and
what you think the answer to the question is ;) Also, please don’t
feel shy
about bringing up what you think the ramifications might be for the
different
options/opinions/methods. I bring this last point up, as I have a gut
feel
that if we come to agreement on the ramifications, then we’ll have
our ‘decision’ per say made for us.
It is not MY decision. It is OUR decision. But . . .
While I can appreciate your enthusiasm, jumping into an established
community that works well together and starting to rearrange the
furniture is a very strange way to make an entrance. Think bull:china
shop.
Best Regards All and Happy New Year!,
Michael
PS: golinux, my full apologies if I’ve stepped on your toes :( and/or
exceeded what you’re willing to take under discussion.
You should be apologizing to the community not to me. We are in this
together, have long standing working relationships and have a common
vision. It is a big red flag when some stranger who drops in from who
knows where and with what agenda starts telling us what to do and how to
do it. If you can do it better, show us, we'll have a look and decide
what to do with it if anything.
[1] I host and manage Drupal (CMS) websites, this generally takes 10
minutes
to setup. I can discuss this offline with whoever as desired.
I have never been impressed by Drupal or Django any of the other 100s of
CMS out there. I shudder to think that Devuan would choose to go down
that road. You might notice that the Devuan site is a cookie free zone
and think also free of java script. We do it our way.
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