Template Toolkit CookBook and ... Wiki's

cwest on 2002-01-10T17:50:06

Some folks want to see the TT CookBook be a Wiki site. I'm nervous about this for several reasons.

Most of them I can keep to myself as thier about quality control and editing and such...

My biggest worry is, well, take a look at the PHP online documentation. They implemented a Wiki and their docs have become obsolete and cluttered with tons of useless stuff.

If that's any indication of how Wiki documentation works.. it scares me.

On the other hand, if there were a process for publishing up-to-date cookbooks *to* a Wiki site, that would make it more interesting.

I refuse, however, to make a Wiki be the central source of the cookbook.

You'll download the cookbook, or view it online just like any other documentation. If you want to discuss it, perhaps that's the place for a Wiki.


Agreed

2shortplanks on 2002-01-10T18:18:37

I like the idea that you mention of making it into a 'real' book. Wiki and suchlike are essentially editorless systems, meaning that the most important information is not always displayed first. The problem with such sites is there is no flow. TT has lots of documentation already...mostly this needs structuring into some kind of "this is how to do this" way, and more importantly, some kind of "read this"..."now read this" way.

However, that said, with wiki the JFDI aspect is really high. I want to write a change, I JFDI, rather than having to go through lots of barriers, I just add a point. It removes the burden from you alone and opens up avenues that you might not have seen. Cathedral and the Bazaar.

In the end, it's a fine line.

Maybe this should be an on-list discussion.

AS

Matts on 2002-01-10T19:54:44

ActiveState has an XSLT and Python Cookbook project ongoing. You might want to check their site out to see how it works (I think it's basically Wiki + node rating)