Re: RFC <grr>okay, i hereby volunteer.</grr>
will@pinncomp.net wrote:
>so.
>
>i volunteer (and would love some assistance from
>some of you others--Svante? are you listening? hmm?)
>to spend some of my free [sic] time to make it easier
>for newbies to find their way around (so that the
>experts can focus on answering more challenging
>questions and devise more cool stuff for the rest of
>us to use in the future) by launching a two-pronged
>attack:
Erm, there's really no point posting to debian-user on this one. I think
you want to try debian-www or debian-doc instead, if you want anything
to happen; I suspect most of the relevant people don't have time to read
this (relatively high-traffic) list.
>1) tinker with the debian web pages to make it more
>difficult for newbies to NOT find what they're
>looking for.
OK. As long as you don't make it harder for other people to find their
way around, as this *isn't* something experts can turn off. :)
> - how to upgrade to a newer debian [apt-get / apt]
> - have a cgi form to generate via Q&A
> apt-get sources.list items
I'd prefer the existing documented interface (dselect's "Access" screen)
to be improved so that you don't have to go by trial and error, and
perhaps a tool called aptconfig or whatever for those who don't like
dselect. The website should then direct people to that.
> - tip of the day (maybe make a fortune database for this?)
That sounds like a good idea, then people can submit extra tips to the
fortune-newbie maintainer or whatever through the bug tracking system.
Use the existing interfaces where they exist. :)
>i think it's safe to assume that the more-knowledgeable
>folk have less trouble navigating, so we can put their
>stuff further down in the hierarchy or at least further
>down on the page.
A lot of things are already filed in Developers' Corner. I really don't
think that much of the stuff needs moved away to avoid scaring people or
whatever - I'd rather see a link to a "Get Help Here!" section or
something. But debian-www will have more useful commentary on this.
> "expect to be confused now and then; it's part of the
> learning process ..."
> [not intending that to be funny--maybe if we warn them that
> not everything will fall into their laps, the newbies may
> be less inclined to think that the gurus OWE them answers.]
I completely agree, here ...
>comments and recruits are very welcome. newbies unite!
The sentiment's appropriate, but you'll have to get developers
interested, or nothing will happen, and experienced people are likely to
be able to give better feedback on your suggestions anyway. If you post
to debian-{www,docs}, you'll get to people who are interested in
improving, and, more to the point, *can* improve the documentation
that's available. If you can get some of the systems you outline above
running, *then* it would be useful to solicit expertise from here.
--
Colin Watson [cjw44@flatline.org.uk]
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