dhis2-devs team mailing list archive

[Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx>]

I can certainly see very good arguments on both sides, have to think about
it a bit more. Just wanted everyone to know that there is something called
DocBook wiki:http://doc-book.sourceforge.net/homepage/

<http://doc-book.sourceforge.net/homepage/>Knut

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 8:18 PM, <johansa@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Well, I was caught off guard yesterday and called a "nerd" for the first
> time in my life as a collague saw I was reading about docbook on my
> cellphone during a dinner party...
>
> As I think Ola mentioned on this list, we have a (doku)wiki up and running
> here
> http://www.openhealthconsortium.org/wiki/doku.php?id=dhis_2_documentation
>
> We are in the process of making a ToC, and HMN is hiring a technical
> writer to contribute. Of course he doesn't know DHIS as well as the
> developers (but that is also an asset sometimes), but he has written large
> manuals before and should be able to help us with style, language etc. The
> idea is that each page can be translated to other languages, so as soon as
> we get something down in english, the same pages can be translated by
> users and developers into their own language. There is also a wiki2pdf
> function, but I haven't tested that yet. The content of the wiki can of
> course be kept locally (such as on the DHIS-on-a-stick Ola and Knut has
> worked on), and updated when online.
>
> Is there a need for another platform? I think the most important is to get
> something substantial quite soon. I have no idea if docbook is compatible
> with the wiki, there might be some export functionality?
> Johan
>
> > Helvete.  Sorry. Was meant to go the entire list.
> >
> > I will  give a try with this the GIS document, and then we will see if
> > DocBook catches on for the documentation, which I will be willing to help
> > with as well, but this is obviously a bit more work. :)
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 6:20 PM, Jo Størset <storset@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >> (I guess this mail just reached me?)
> >>
> >> Den 10. sep. 2009 kl. 17.25 skrev Jason Pickering:
> >>
> >> Bob- I tried with OpenOffice, but was did not succeed. It seems to be
> >> for
> >> older versions and I could not get it to work with my version (3.1 on
> >> Windows).
> >>
> >> Jo, I completely agree with you, to a certain point. It will not
> >> necessarily speed up the process necessarily, but it will make it more
> >> sustainable and flexible. It is easy enough to go from DocBook into
> >> HTML,
> >> and not too difficult to go the other way. I am just thinking in the
> >> long
> >> term. In addition to documentation, we need to think about training
> >> materials, user guides and so forth. I am not sure that the Wiki
> >> approach
> >> necessarily lends itself to developing these types of materials. I think
> >> the
> >> Wiki is a great tool for collaboration. Actually, I think in many places
> >> (Zambia for instance where I am) having access and the ability to
> >> check-out
> >> documentation, edit it, and check it back in is actually preferable to
> >> having to be connected and edit it on a Wiki. Internet access is
> >> incredibly
> >> expensive, slow and difficult to access here. One of the reasons why I
> >> would
> >> prefer the version control system (in addition to it being version
> >> controlled) is that i only need to download what is new, like the code.
> >>
> >> I agree with your point that it raises the bar a bit in terms of having
> >> to
> >> get a version control client installed, and learn the structure of
> >> DocBook,
> >> but I also feel that as much effort that given that so much effort has
> >> and
> >> is being put into the coding of the application, the documentation of it
> >> should be just as rigorous. It may be more difficult, but it certainly
> >> is
> >> the better choice in my mind.  DocBook seems to work great for other
> >> OpenSource projects, but I am not going to spend any more effort
> >> beginning
> >> to develop the docs, if it is not going to be sustainable.
> >>
> >> Knut, Ola, anyone else..thoughts?
> >>
> >>
> >> I guess I could have made my position clearer: go for it! Since you are
> >> willing to contribute to the documentation, we should tailor everything
> >> to
> >> your needs. Let us deal with the other stuff later, when we have to
> >> worry
> >> about maintaining great documentation :)
> >>
> >> Jo
> >>
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>
>
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-- 
Cheers,
Knut Staring