On Mon, 1 Jul 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Hi Rich, > > I believe that people don't use features because they > are there, but because they need them.
The features are there because people need them. This seems like a rather strange distinction to make, but I *think* I follow what you are saying. > People don't need Virtual Hosts - they need "several > web servers on one machine". There is a real value to technical terms. The correctly-used technical term saves pages of explanation, and there is a distinct value in teaching people to use the right words for the right concepts. > Or at least they believe they need this, unless they > are told that Virtual Hosts will supply exactly this > feature. > > IMHO there is no need mentioning IP addresses or port > numbers this early. How about if I make the IP address phrase parenthetical? I am very averse to "dumbing down" the docs. Yes, they should be accessible to the beginner, but not to the point where they become useless to the advanced user. > There may be a lot of other things one can do with > Virtual Hosts, but the most important thing in my eyes > is that you can access different DNS names on one > machine via HTTP. You will need IP address knowledge > to really make it work (because one has to map the > DNS name to some IP adress), but not yet for under- > standing what Virtual Hosts are good for. Hmm. I'm not really sure if I agree. Primarily because of the fact that people seem to think that if they add a vhost, it will magically make DNS resolve that name to their server. These are the same folks who also think that if they add a vhost for cnn.com they will suddenly hijack all traffic from that site. It *is* important that they have at least a smidgen of networking knowledge, even to understand *basic* name-based vhosts. In my first example, I try to keep it at what I perceive to be the barest minimum. Additionally, I *frequently* get asked why the vhost docs don't contain more about DNS configuration (standard answer: a) this is the Apache doc, not a DNS doc and 2) Which DNS server should I document here?) And folks want to have something here about the format of /etc/hosts files. I don't think that there is any way to make everyone happy, but it's a noble goal. -- Who can say where the road goes Where the day flows Only time --Pilgrim (Enya - A Day Without Rain) --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
