This is some really valuable information Jim, thankyou very much. On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 1:13 PM, Jim Campbell <jwcampb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All, > > I wanted to make a couple of suggestions for the Ubuntu Support and > Learning Center. For a web-only project, I'd recommend taking a close look > at the Mozilla Sumo project. The Mozilla instance is available at > http://support.mozilla.com, and the source / build instructions are > available through the wiki: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Support:Sumodev > > That is a web-only solution, though. No outputs to PDF, no desktop manual, > no automated translation tool support (though the site does support > translations). From some of the discussions from the IRC meeting logs it > sounds like something that you would at least want to look at for feature > ideas, if not using it as a base. > > An alternate approach would be more involved, but I think is interesting in > the long-run. It may be something that would work, given that you noted you > would be looking to get the giant content pool available after the Maverick > release. It would involve use of DITA, an XML-based syntax that was > designed to create "content pools." The group may not be so keen on > authoring an XML-based syntax, but the open-source Serna XML editor was just > packaged for Debian Sid, and it allows writers to write w/o having to code > the syntax itself. > > The advanced features of DITA are not simple, but I don't think any > "content pool," is going to be easy. You can skim through this pdf ( > http://www.marklogic-news.com/images/MarkLogic_Flatirons_07_Using_DITA.pdf) > to get a long-range picture of what DITA could allow you to do, though. > > Put succinctly, DITA content is made up of topic chunks, roughly split out > into "concepts," (what is Ubuntu, and how is it different from Kubuntu and > Xubuntu?), "tasks" (How do I set up a VPN connection?), and reference topics > (typically command syntax examples, programming instructions, and other > reference material - would be good for server-related content.). DITA Maps > are used to string all of the content together - you can use the maps to > cherry-pick from the content pool, and put some topics together for a > quick-start guide, some for a manual, some for server docs, etc. > > As a note, DITA can output to pdf, html, epub, docbook, and other formats. > (Shaun McCance from the Gnome doc team presented to the DITA help committee, > and they even said they would look to produce Mallard output from DITA > content.) OpenSUSE is the only distro that currently packages DITA. I'll > say again that it is not a simple syntax, and even using the editor is not > super-simple. I think that creating content pools will require thought and > planning initially, but will pay off for Ubuntu documentation in the > long-run. > > Here's the wikipedia page for this. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Information_Typing_Architecture > > Sorry if this is really long, but I wanted to get these things out there > before things got too finalized. I hope this is helpful! > > Jim > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-manual > Post to : ubuntu-manual@lists.launchpad.net > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-manual > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > -- Benjamin Humphrey interesting.co.nz
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