Re: gdp webpages

[David Merrill <david lupercalia net>]

On Wed, Jun 05, 2002 at 07:25:05PM -0600, John Fleck wrote:
> On Wed, 2002-06-05 at 18:18, Nicholas Curran wrote:
> > On Thu, 2002-06-06 at 06:34, Jon Allen wrote:
> > > Hi Folks,
> > > 
> > > The first thing I'd like to do is update the pages to reflect current gdp
> > > efforts (gnome2, etc.).  Other items would be get current cool stuff on the
> > > pages, like the new 'gnome handbook of writing software documentation,'
> > > etc.  It'd also be cool if we got the doctable updated and kept it that
> > > way.
> > 
> > It'd be _really_ cool if you could get the Doctable online again.
> > 
> 
> I think more is required than simply getting the old doctable back on
> line. I'm not sure what - I'd like to hear suggestions.
> 
> Even before the old doctable went off line, it was little used,and
> therefore of little use. Its problem was that people did not keep it
> updated. I don't know if this was because it was badly designed and
> therefore hard to use, or whether there is some intrinsic problem about
> getting people to keep their bits updated on something like that.
> 
> I'm cc'ing David Merrill, as I know he's thinking about these questions
> in a more comprehensive way in designing Lampadas. 

Hehe. I have mutt highlight messages that contain my name, so you need
only speak of the devil...

I approach the problem two ways. First, I can read meta-data from the
docbook source and use it to update the database. Second, for people
who do not submit right to cvs but go through Lampadas, publishing a
document is done on the same page where one edits meta-data, so it
makes it convenient to update it before publishing.

No matter what, you fight human nature when asking people to keep a
database in sync with something else. The only way to win that fight
is to make the database central to the way you work. If you can do it,
you get some nice benefits, though, especially in management
capabilities.

-- 
David C. Merrill                         http://www.lupercalia.net
Linux Documentation Project                   david lupercalia net
Lead Developer                                 http://www.tldp.org

Remember, the plural of "moron" is "focus group".
	-- James A. Wolf