os-faq 2, new version (new address)

[df]

well I'm sloooowly (emphasized) moving the old faq into the wiki..

http://www.osdev.org/osfaq2

being a wiki, we can now maintain it a lot easier, and keep it up to date.

its still being moved over, etc.

for those who still have the admin password, it has not changed.

for those that dont have it.. badluck, currently.

[df]

noone has any comments? prefer the wiki version or the old version?

i know its still missing info...

[Pype.Clicker]

imho, i feel wiki terribly confusing, and deseperately lacking structure ...

i'm for a more "traditionnal" approach if it remains possible ...
I know it requires much more work for the updates, etc. But it provides something more useful at the end ...

[Slasher]

Same Here. The old one was VERY easy to use and follow.

[Pype.Clicker]

maybe a possible intermediate solution would be to add a small "submit a comment" to the main text, which would throw the user to a alternate window where he can read other people's comment, or post his own comments/questions/corrections/etc.

The alternate window could be a thread in the forum, for instance

[Tim]

For example, the PHP manual: http://www.php.net/manual/en/

[Pype.Clicker]

yep. Something like that, except i would have kept the comments on a sidebar (with a smaller font and only a few firtst words) or a separate windows, so that the reader can clearly see what is official and what is comments ...

[Scalpel]

For example, the PHP manual: http://www.php.net/manual/en/

I agree, the PHP manual is very easy to use, and the FAQ should adopt some of its capabilities.
How about having a comment field on each page, and then the admin of the FAQ can put the essence of the most helpful comments into the FAQ?

[df]

what i was going to have was a good version (uneditable version of the wiki) and a editable one..

changes would be reviews, then moved over..

the thing with freeform adding, people will start treating it like a message board, or go totally off topic (it happens here aaaall the time).

[K.J.]

I dunno. I'm with everyone else on the Wiki being confusing and suggesting that you do the same kind of thing that the PHP manual does.

the thing with freeform adding, people will start treating it like a message board, or go totally off topic (it happens here aaaall the time).

The PHP Manual thing seems to stay on topic and doesn't seem to be a forum type thing at all...

K.J.

[Jonathan]

I really liked the old version better because of it's structure. As someone said Wiki lacks in the structure in my oppinion.

[distantvoices]

It does not lack in structure. Wikiwiki-pages give the opportunity to set constraints and structure in a free manner. Thus, the wiki-admin can decide about the structure. I think it is possible to design wikiwiki's in a form that no one else remarks that he visits a wikiwiki page.

[Solar]

Well, as for "confusing", except for the administrative links at top and bottom of each page, not much has changed, now has it?

PhpWiki does a terrible job at documenting itself, scattering the information over a dozen subpages etc.

I feel the pain, I'm using a Wiki for my own project too, and right now working on improving the doc situation. Perhaps I'll send you the improved doc set when I'm done.

What's really hurting though is that the Wiki pages are locked. Don't fear the contributions of others, it works, and probably relieves you of much work!

Don't aim at a "locked" and an "open" version of the OS Faq. Just open up the pages. You can have a look at the RecentChanges, and you always have the option to return to an older version of the page if you don't like the edits others made.

Believe me, it works...

[Pype.Clicker]

is there a way to have wiki handling linksThatAreNotASingleWord ? that's one of the features that trouble me the most ...

[distantvoices]

There is of course a possibility: to have the real links stored in a database, and the wiki thing has to lookup via parameter passed by. The value printed between <a> and </a> can be extracted from the database. the spaces have to be html-converted and printed as spaces. to achieve this, one has to tweak the wiki-engine a bit.