At 05:26 PM 10/2/00, Michael Yount wrote:
>Given Roger Klorese's recent comments, Paul Hancock's list "flavors"
>look like a really good feature.
Is this something you'd put as a createlist option, or in the help files?
I think it's just a help file example, that "help createlist" can point
to, and as such isn't a gating item for a full release. If I understand
what you mean by "flavor", it's what Paul called a "template", and it
just contains a set of configs that could actually be used out of the
box: a moderated list, a list with digests and archives, etc. Anyone
want to enumerate the flavors we need to provide?
>The project needs an up-to-date web page and better introductions
>for novices.
How about switching some of the release files from plain text
to html, and putting them on the web in addition to in the release?
(Things like TODO and README, with a bit of buffing up.) Otherwise
we're going to get out of synch as soon as we finish creating the
updated web page.
Do you mean introduction for novice list owners or novice subscribers?
Either way, I think "help help" is the file to start with, I think that
everything we put on the web should be in the help system, and I think
the help system should be html-ized as part of the install procedure
(with each site deciding whether to install the available files or not).
I can provide the script I use to create HTML help at my site, but it
cannot run until the help system is installed and operational since
it relies on variable evaluations and file inclusions to have occurred
before the html edits are made.
>A separate web/help page for each category of
>configuration settings would be a boon for inexperienced list owners.
If someone will suggest exhaustive category names, I'll take care
of the formatting. This probably belongs in "help admin_commands"
file, not "help commands", right? Also, it would be better to categorize
ALL commands, not just the configset sub-commands. I've done a bit along
the lines of grouping commands with the "see also" section at the bottom
of most configset help files, trying to point people in the direction of
other settings that do similar things or need to be considered at the
same time. It's not going to be easy to form non-intersecting sets of
commands, so think about how many categories each command or configset
option should be in.
I've been thinking of a nomenclature pass: I remember when I was starting
that "configs" meant nothing to me. The command was "configset", but that
didn't sink in for a while. Then I came across documentation that spoke
of "variables", and finally figured out the 'configs' consisited of a
bunch of 'configset variables'. Then we got to the ACTUAL variables that
are evaluated as a message gets sent... and occasionally I still stumble
on the fact that "mode" really means "option to a configset command".
I'd like to make a pass thru the docs finding and replacing all such terms
with rigidly defined terms that appear in a glossary. Again, I could use
some help here so I don't pick terms that the developers hate or old Mj1
users don't understand.
'config' --> list configuration SETTING
'config variable' --> list configuration OPTION
'variable' --> access rules variable, file substitution variable
'command' --> note that configset is a command with LOTS of command options
'mode' --> configset command option
There are a ton of these, and I'm the wrong person to write the glossary.
Anyone want to help?
References:
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