Sourceforge wiki for Smartie docs/user guide?

[mattcro]

Can I suggest we look into starting a wiki (or similar) documentation system for Smartie? It seems that Sourceforge now offers projects a wiki for associated documentation etc. I've seen SF wikis for a couple of other projects. I know we have the forum already, but it's sometimes a nightmare to locate info and there's a lot of duplication when issues resurface or people ask for help/info and we end up pointing them to an existing post.

A while ago, erlis started a wiki for plugins (initially just his own) which has never really taken off (see htttp://forums.lcdsmartie.org/viewtopic.php?t=596&highlight=wiki ). In that thread, there was talk of having a general Smartie help/docs wiki, and I still think such a wiki would be a useful resource. It would certainly make the whole Smartie and LCD thing easier for new users, and probably even for us seasoned users and developers.when looking up something specific, like a feature we haven't used before.

I'd suggest to have it editable by all users, at least for an initial trial period to see what level of abuse it might get, and encourage all Smartie users to contribute. If abuse gets bad, I suppose we can have a restricted "docs" group to maintain the content. I'll certainly contribute to parts that I'm familiar with.

We could source a bunch of info from the forum as a starting point for documentation, and gradually build it up. I don't have much experience with wikis, but it's not that difficult to get started.

Partitioning the content between the Smartie official site, the forums and the wiki might be an issue - what should go where? Jay mentioned in the post I liked to above that Sourceforge requires all downloads to be released through CVS. Is that still the case? Perhaps we'll have to retain the current plugin announcement forum for uploading plugins. At least it's an easy way for folks to upload/update their plugins and get feedback.

I'd suggest to keep the wiki restricted to "official" documention such as a more comprehensive user guide (currently woefully lacking), hardware connection info (currently patchy), example screens, and perhaps a list of current plugins with links to the forum. Hopefully, most of that will be relatively static, and the support for specific issues can be dealt with on the forum. If questions come up on the forum like "what are actions, anyway?", we can direct people to the wiki.

If we can get a wiki going on Sourceforge, at least it'll be around as long as the Smartie project, and could provide a fairly comprehensive user guide all in one place. Thoughts on this, everyone?

[mattcro]

bump bump!

Any thoughts on a wiki or something similar (maybe expand the current sourceforge Smartie pages?) for documentation? User contributions are what a project like this relies on, so it would be great (and maybe rather optimistic??) if folks could write a bit about how to set up Smartie and use the many features.

There's a load of info in the current forums, but it's hardly logically organised and it's easy to miss a useful bit of info when wading through the many posts.

I know there would be some work involved in getting a docs site/wiki up and running. I'd be willing to act as a sort of maintainer, but there's no way I could write/collect enough material to be useful (I spend too much time here as it is!), so a number of users would have to be involved.

[limbo]

bump bump!

There's a load of info in the current forums, but it's hardly logically organised and it's easy to miss a useful bit of info when wading through the many posts.

I will agree with you mattcro. We need to replace these old fashioned pages on the site (especially the Faq) to be more helpful for end users.