Re: Documentation on the web

[Patrick Costello <Patrick Costello Sun COM>]

Shaun McCance wrote:


> I think it's useful to have the application manuals on the web, and to
> keep documentation online for all major versions.  These can be used as
> reference for people answering question on gnomesupport.org.  We also
> would have a definitive location for versions of documentation, so they
> could be referenced unambiguously by URLs (which could allow us to get
> rid of that silly ghelp URI scheme some day).
> 
Your last point is a very good one. If this approach facilitates easy cross-referencing, then that is a good thing. If there is no extra work or updating involved in putting application manuals on the web, then I have no objection. 


> Currently, the build system only knows how to grab tarballs of releases.
> This was designed around the idea that modules actually make releases,
> rather than building off of whatever happens to be in CVS.  However,
> more stuff can be plugged into this system, so if it would be useful to
> have docs that are built from CVS, then CVS-grabbing tools can be made.
> 

Yes, we do need to have project-support documentation, as opposed to release documentation, up and available on the web. Not least because we need to give proper visibility to blueprint documentation. But this is not a first priority, making user documentation is a first priority. 

> Incidentally, I think the developer documentation should have multiple
> versions on the web, much like the application manuals do in my system.
>