Re: Fixes to the manual page

[Pavel Roskin <proski gnu org>]

Hi, Peter!

> OK. I definitely want to contribute to MC.
> Where I should start, and how?

Read at http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ how to get the current sources using 
CVS.

> I guess, I need to download sources of docs, right? What wersion, where?
>
> I am not exactly excited about reading all docs through... ;-)
> But I can give it a try.
>
> I guess docs are written using some special format, right?

It's the manual page format.  Run "man groff_man" to read about this
format.

> Warning: Because english is not my first language, 
> my grammar might be wrong, too. ;-)

That's why I was surprised that you wanted to help with the documentation.

> In my work, we are using a wiki clone, TWiki (twiki.org) to collaborate
> on creating documentation. It's basically browser-based web publishing
> with user authorisation and version control.
>
> If somebody will be interested, I can set up a twiki to publish
> versions of docs, and any interested party can contribute/fix my errors.

The problem is that the documentation is so long and so detailed, that
people will add duplicate entries.  We are at the point when quality and
consistency is much more important than quantity.  I don't think wiki can
be very helpful for that.

> Or, I can post proposed changes to this list (or the mc-dev list)
> to be double-checked.

Yes, that would be fine, at least in the beginning.  If your changes are 
consistently good, I'll ask to give you CVS access.

> Workarounds... They might possibly be described in separate document,
> without cluttering main docs and confusing beginners, and possibly
> located on web.

It's not exactly workarounds.  It's more like useful hints that can be
made useless by improving the interface.  Like explaining what "C-o" means
instead of writing "Ctrl-O".

> I know original NC has all help files it needed, but (IMHO) these days
> it's hard to get a PC far away from net. So it might have sense to have
> coming with application only very stable help pages, and expect that
> problems/tricks are published on some more flexible media.

That's correct.

> I have no idea how to organize translations... But again, having basic
> stable pages in help, and workaround in english on web, might be
> simplest and flexible solution.

Leave radical changes for the time after the release.

> Tel me where I am wrong. I am open to change my mind.. ;-)

Try to do something, and I'll tell you where you are wrong :-)

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin