Subject: [linux-audio-dev] Re: documentation quality. (was Desktop Environments...)
From: Kevin Conder (kwconder_AT_yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Jul 04 2002 - 01:41:58 EEST
> Watching my brother (ok, not very scientific!) use fruityloops to
> write his music made me realise this : he's constantly using the
> help because not everything is intuitive on these programs.
>
> Of course, ultimately the most important thing is the quality of the
> documentation - something which doesn't really get the attention it
> deserves on (nearly?) all OS projects - because
> (a) coding is more fun, and most of us are doing this as a hobby
> (b) those who write software have a knack for understanding it too -
> something the general public does *not* have..
> Of course, I am guilty of this too.. ;-)
As an active documentation volunteer, I could share lots of
horror stories about my attempts to work with Open Source
projects. But here are the main problems as I see it...
1. If you don't contribute actual source code to an Open Source
project, you are *persona non grata*. You will be disrespected
(because you're too stupid to code) and eventually ignored.
2. Some Open Source programmers claim to never read user
documentation. So to them, it's not important. See #1.
3. Programmers are usually very protective about their software's
quality and will closely examine every patch submitted to them. But
these same programmers will turn around and create a Wiki where any
kiddie can submit incorrect/confusing/contradictory documentation.
I think all Open Source projects should have someone who handles
documentation. Don't set up a Wiki, you need someone who is
responsible for making sure the documentation is complete,
correct, and up-to-date. If you are an existing project and a
documentation volunteer steps forward, treat them like they're
part of the team.
=====
-- kwconder at yahoo dot com
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Thu Jul 04 2002 - 01:46:51 EEST