Bug#270772: http://www.debian.org/support - order of entries makes no sense to me
Package: www.debian.org
Severity: minor
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Hi,
I think entries on the support web page should be roughly ordered by
importance (where it is 'obvious') - meaning: somebody looking for help
should start at the top and get the easy answers and get to the bottom
for the hard questions. Also, /support and /doc should be viewed
together.
Going through, in the order I'd propose:
Documentation
good at the top
Known problems
is ok here. But I'd really expect the bts mentioned in this place
instead in its own section.
====
Known Problems
Limitations and severe problems of the current stable
distribution (if any) are described on the [release notes]
and in the [errata].
# the [release pages] link points to installation manual etc., which
# is probably not useful when I'm browsing /support because I'm
# having trouble with my installed Debian system. (And please, somebody
# change 'The new release' to 'This release' on /releases/stable/ - it's
# hardly 'new' now.)
Known problems with individual packages are recorded in the
[bug tracking system]. Each bug is given a number, and is kept
on file until it is marked as having been dealt with.
For information about known problems in a particular package,
insert the package name in the form below and hit 'Submit'.
[insert web form here]
More information about the bug tracking system, especially also
how to report a bug if it is not recorded in the system yet, can
be found in the [bug tracking system web pages].
# the existing section on the bts does, imho, tell too much about
# submitting bugs and not enough about querying bugs.
===
Mailing lists
looks fine.
Is there a list of mailing lists on alioth, and should it be
referenced here if it exists? Or, in absence of such a list, mention
"many package specific mailing lists are also hosted on [alioth]."
Web sites
This should contain much more links. See also
<http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2004/09/msg00018.html> (and
possibly replies). For reference:
http://wiki.debian.net/
http://forum.debian.net (if it gets users)
http://www.aboutdebian.com/
http://www.debianforum.de/forum/
http://design2i.com/debian/
About debianforum.de: perhaps instead of linking to a german page
here, have the english page only say "for links to Debian specific
web pages in other languages, please see the translations of this page
listed at the bottom".
Hmmm. Very Hmmm. When I'm at the bottom, I see that there's a
related links page. I'd link to that one in this section and drop
the Other Resources section entirely for starters. But really, the
'web sites' section of /support and the 'related links' page need to
be merged or disentangled. What I would propose: only point to the
related links page from /support, but reorganize the former so that
Debian specific links are a section of their own.
On-line Real Time Help Using IRC
fine to me, but why is it currently that far down on the page?
Usenet Newsgroups
I list this down here because there seem to be no established Debian
specific newsgroups. Let's have Debian specific support first,
general support further down.
Reaching Package Maintainers
I'd drop this section entirely. Reaching package maintainers by the
bts is documented in the Known Problems (new) section, and instead
of contacting package maintainers directly, people should rather use
the mailing lists - I think there's a mailing list to cover most of
the topics.
Linux User Groups
New section. "Local Linux User Groups can be found in many places;
most of these have regular meetings to discuss Linux problems,
and/or have their own mailing lists or web forums." With link to
<http://www.debian.org/misc/related_links.en-gb.html#lugs>, or
remove the "Linux User Groups" from related_links and move it here
entirely.
Consultants
Paying somebody for support is for many Debian users just not an
option, and for most probably the last-ditch option, that's why I
move that section to the bottom
Consistency: shouldn't all words in section titles be capitalized?
(Mailing Lists, Web Sites, Known Problems)
Let me know what you think (please cc: avbidder@fortytwo.ch on replies,
I'm not on debian-www).
Depending on the outcome of the discussion, I'd be willing to write a
patch.
greetings
- -- vbi
- --
Hardware: The parts of a computer system that can be kicked.
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