In the last few days I started to take a look at the manual and used TeX for the first time. I agree with Scott's comments; I've no doubt that it's a very powerful tool and extremely useful for professional-looking academic/scientific papers etc, but it restricts the potential editors to those who are comfortable with coding and the GIT version control tool.
I'll put a vote in for Google Documents; though I've little first-hand experience I've seen other open-source projects use it extensively for documentation, and I understand the collaborative aspect is relatively straightforward. Wikis are good, but difficult to adapt to the printed page. They're also less likely to be used in the workplace (it's nice to feel you're gaining a useful skill when contributing to an open-source project). Simon On 21 December 2010 10:08, Scott Penrose <sco...@dd.com.au> wrote: > Howdy Robert > > On 21/12/2010, at 7:16 PM, Robert Hart wrote: >> On 20/12/10 09:35, Scott Penrose wrote: >>> I would like to do a collaborative edited document, preferably online. >>> Anyone want to suggest any special technology. Choices are: >>> >>> * Existing format = tex and use GIT to edit it >>> * Wiki pages >>> * Google Docs >>> * Other ? >>> >>> I know John will frown at me for saying this, but I think editing it with >>> Tex is great for techies, but I would like to see manual contributors who >>> are in the user space as well as the dev space, and an online edited system >>> will remove all barriers to entry. >>> >>> Thoughts? >>> >>> Yes I am putting this to the User team rather than Dev, as I think there is >>> many users could contribute to the manual. >>> >>> BTW. You already have access to editing the wiki, so if there is any FAQ, >>> Data file questions/answers, preferred setup, ability to share config files >>> etc, you can already do it on the wiki >> My feelings are that we should produce the document using software that is >> already usable by ordinary glider pilots and that means we cannot use Tex. >> For myself, it has been way too long since I wrote using Tex and I would >> have to relearn and simply don't have the time to do that. > > Yes that is a fair enough response. It all depends on who is doing it. If we > get 5 people who want to do it who are willing to use Tex, then go for it. If > not,t hen we use something else :-) > > But my feeling is that we will get more people that want to do it in a GUI > than not. And I think that is fair enough, I am certainly willing to > coordinate that. > >> My suggestion is that we use something like Open/Libre Office for user text. >> This is open source software (like XCSoar itself) and is readily available >> at no cost. I have not used OO for a large document, so if its capabilities >> are not good there, then we may need to migrate the text to something else. >> I have used MS Word to write several large documents (150+ pages) and that >> was a bit of a stretch...hopefully OO is better but I don't know! > > Unfortunately you can't do effective collaboratively editing with Open Office > or Word docs - there is no workable merging, so only a single person can > edit. Not a solution we can use sorry. There is some hacks here, but I have > worked on many large document projects in Education in Australia and they are > horrible, you end up putting all the formatting work and merging onto one > person. > > We could however use Google Docs - which feels like a word processor, but > allows collaborative editing and revisions. > >> In hte first instance, I think the project is more manageable and more >> readily distributed amongst many users if it is in several documents at >> least during the writing stage. > > Of course, as per my email, one doc per section. > >> Whatever we use, we really need to produce a document that is PRINTABLE. >> That way people can sit in their gliders on the ground and play with XCSoar >> with their instrumentation. If we don't have a format that is printable, I >> think we are missing the boat for many pilots. > > Yes agreed. We must have a nicely formatted PDF that can be printed. It > should have the usual things like content and index pages. > >> I like the idea of having an online document (such as google docs or >> similar) as this makes collaboration easier (or I hope it would as I have >> not used it). > > I see I have spoken to the converted :-) > > Which brings me to - are you happy to be one of the editors? > > Thanks > > Scooter > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Lotusphere 2011 > Register now for Lotusphere 2011 and learn how > to connect the dots, take your collaborative environment > to the next level, and enter the era of Social Business. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/lotusphere-d2d > _______________________________________________ > Xcsoar-user mailing list > Xcsoar-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcsoar-user > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lotusphere 2011 Register now for Lotusphere 2011 and learn how to connect the dots, take your collaborative environment to the next level, and enter the era of Social Business. http://p.sf.net/sfu/lotusphere-d2d _______________________________________________ Xcsoar-user mailing list Xcsoar-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xcsoar-user
