----- Original Message -----
DocBook requires some effort to get into. It's a nice format, but it's limited in a way that it's not WYSIWYG and it requires a whole slew of tools.
Perhaps it's better to keep documentation development in a wiki.
I'm not very knowledgable on' wikis, but there must be a way to get a 'snapshot' from the web and include that in the package as documentation.
Hosting * separate repos, so members can't mess with our source code? * integrated with our repos, so it looks more official? __ A very open documentation project there will be a lot of contributors, so a separate repos would be better.
That would be another advantage of WIKI. When I first kicked in KDE documentation, I had to learn the concepts of version control. I mean, it's pretty obvious when you are a developer and you learn to think in a certain way. But as a 'noob' you have to grasp the concept of revision numbering. I remember really not getting around the fact that revision 1.14 of a file really was for KDE2. Subversion is perhaps a bit more 'normal', but really, branching is the next topic of misunderstanding.
Documentation writing is probably a quite linear process, involving little branching (it makes little sense writing documentation for two releases at the same time).
I go for separate repos, also. We can keep going with the Wiki, then when the documentation gets more structure, we can make it "official" and keep on going on the revisions. That way all the main page would have more control.
Policy * anonymous commits * everyone gets an account on request * you must send patches before you get repos access __ I think the second option is the best.
I'm imagining a wiki where everyone can change and contribute, but where changes are marked 'need-review'. You can 'earn' privileges by contributing a lot. This means your docs aren't going to be marked and you can review things yourself.
Plus the wiki would make it easier for the top contributors to have co-ordinate their efforts.
Subdomains really never gave me the feeling of "unofficial". If it's in a subdomain the offical project must have set it up. How can this be understood as unoffical? And if you put "Unoffical" on every page in the subdomain people will probably doubt that haiku-os.org is official.
A slogan like 'community.haiku-os.org - the place where people help people' in the logo or at the top of every page would be able to signal what kind of area of haiku this is.
Besides, moderation can make it official.
Niels
I let that decision to you. I also have posted in the Wiki these questions so the active documentators have a decision about the first topics. if it is "community.haiku-os.org" or "haikucommunity.org" or whatever you decide, would be fine as long as the moderation and links give the official status.
