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Revision 16 as of 2008-08-09 12:04:13

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Discussion of HelpWikiQualityAssurance. (The author should sign this so we can see who wrote it. -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-07 12:27:21)

With regards to versioning pages:

  • Say a page applies to 5.04 and 5.10 but not 6.06. Users will wonder what is different in 6.06, information should be provided: "works on 6.06 by default" or "replaced in 6.06 by $something"
    • Comment: This is solved by adding a link to the forum and a /PageDiscussion link. They can ask and someone can add the answer to the page. -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-07 12:27:21

    • This is specially important if we provide a better way of doing things, like the dist-upgrader tool to avoid apt-get dist-upgrade. This "breaks" what old users expect, and they should be informed clearly.
      • How is this point related to the community documentation wiki? -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-07 12:27:21

  • Adding category version tags will need constant maintenance as each release rolls out and older releases become unsupported.
    • Comment: and that's part of the point. At the moment it's not always possible to know if a page has been updated. As for constant maintenance, it' twice a year per application, and much of it could be scripted eventually. -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-07 12:27:21

    • e.g. all pages marked "5.10" will need to be cleaned out once it outlives its support lifespan. This could be easily parsed for by searching across the category tag though.
  • Is there a need for adding category version tags for individual software applications or just Ubuntu releases? (Unsigned)
    • i.e. do we need to tag OOo 2.0.3 versus 2.0.2 as changes are introduced?
      • Comment: I don't see why really, this is not the official docs but users tips and comments we are talking about. The official docs should cover the details of version specific changes. -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-07 12:27:21

    • My feeling is that such micro-management would be unnecessary and impractical. Major application changes are likely to happen across releases.
      • Comment: you mean the list of default applications or what? -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-07 12:27:21

I don't quite understand what you're talking about here in the next points. Could someone explain it another way or more? -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-07 12:27:21

  • If we categorise pages according to release numbers then two scenarios could occur:
    • an application/procedure persists across releases:
      • we could tag pages inline as to which situations/contexts refer to which release (as mentioned above)
    • an application/procedure is superseded, replaced or has major changes made:

      • we might need separate pages for each release-specific context
      • this could be tricky as the wiki page's namespace would then become release specific as opposed to the version category

Navigation:

  • Make sure there are clear links to parents, parent catagories, home and previous, whenever possible/applicable so to avoid users getting lost. (currently the only way to get back to home is to click the documentation link in the top navigation bar)
    • Comment: I agree, I've been adding the following to pages:
    at the top:

    Parent page: CategoryNoParent | Discuss this page at the bottom:


... which addresses two of the issues mentioned on this page. -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-07 12:27:21

CategoryCleanup

* -- duncan-lithgow 2008-08-09 12:04:13 https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CategoryCleanup = 297 someone is making some progress. * On July 17, 2006 there were 344 pages in CategoryCleanup. Given the amount of people with time available to work on CategoryCleanup, we cannot possibly keep this list short.

For that reason, I suggest that when it comes to quality assurance efforts we limit ourselves to simply indicating why any one page is placed into CategoryCleanup. We need some mechanism so that random wiki users will know why the page is in CategoryCleanup.

The notification below is a suggestion.

To meet the quality standards for Community Docs, this article or section requires additional work.

Text specific to the problem goes here. Problems can be grammar and spelling, technical, style, or whatever. Include links to appropriate help sections on the wiki.

You can discuss this issue on either Freenode IRC channel #ubuntu-doc or on the mailing list.

This page was placed into CategoryCleanup by (name here) on (date here)

This method does not require the creation of new macros. When you put a page into CategoryCleanup, simply copy-and-paste the above table into the top of the page and modify it as required.

People should know why the page needs cleaning up so they know whether or not they can trust the content. If the note says that the page is in CategoryCleanup for poor grammar and spelling only, then people will know that they can rely on the information in the page. As a bonus, they may even be motivated to do the cleaning up themselves. As it is now, merely placing the tag CategoryCleanup says nothing about the condition of the page.

It's very easy to put the CategoryCleanup tag onto a page, but difficult and time-consuming to actually fix the problems, especially if you don't know why the page is there in the first place.

Also, simply sticking a page into the category is a blunt instrument, and might deter people from further contribution. We treat contributors with a bit more respect when we take the time to indicate exactly why their page falls short, tell them who put their page into the category, and give links to information that might help them out.

CategoryReview

Although this category was suggested earlier on the mailing list, we probably don't have the resources available yet to do a proper job of reviewing in a timely manner all the pages that would end up in it.

Wiki Software

What software is used for this wiki, and why? MediaWiki (the software used by Wikipedia) has several useful features this wiki is missing. For example, Talk pages are automatically bound to the article pages, there is a list of RecentChanges, and I think templates (macros) are easier, though I haven't figured out how they work here. --MattFlaschen

  • I just found the RecentChanges here. Smile :) --MattFlaschen

    This wiki is Moinmoin. MediaWiki is the best wiki engine. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it's impossible migrate to another platform (most expensive, most difficult). But this isn't a problem. With Category, Macro, guide-line how-to write a guide and control operator it's possible have all under control. Hi all. GiuseppeTerrasi

    • MediaWiki has two useful features: 1) discussion pages - they would be good for help.ubuntu.com/community; 2) editing sections - try to edit a very long article here and you'll know what I mean (ie. ContributeToUbuntu). -- AzraelNightwalker 2008-02-29 14:46:01

      Regarding Discussion Pages, I concur these would encourage others to pick up a project. I am a good example in this case. -- Cmnorton 2024-03-29 12:07:00

Website visuals

I haven't seen any mention of the look and feel of the help wiki. It's important that it looks and feels a bit different from the current wiki.ubuntu.com. People need to notice where they are. 7.nov2007 DuncanLithgow