Re: Getting Started With WO site
Re: Getting Started With WO site
- Subject: Re: Getting Started With WO site
- From: David LeBer <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:29:52 -0700
On 14-Jun-07, at 8:57 AM, Steven Mark McCraw wrote:
My understanding is that the webobjects wiki book (http://
en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Programming:WebObjects) is trying to become
the central point of documentation for WebObjects that people post
to. There's already a ton of info there, but we all know it could
use a ton more. At WOWODC, when the experts panel was asked what
could be done to help with project wonder, this is what they came
back with immediately: We need people writing documentation, and
this is the place to put it. Even if it's bad, there are so many
people watching it that bad info will get edited out quickly.
I think there's a danger in having TOO many informational sites.
If everybody decides to wing it because they get on a high at a
developer's conference regarding being able to document stuff to
widen the movement, I think we will end up with dozens of blogs,
half finished tutorials, etc. There's a reason there isn't much
documentation on Wonder and WebObjects: writing good documentation
is HARD and time consuming, and not a very glamorous task. So if
you have 10 spare hours to write a decent article on a very
specific issue, I think everybody would be better served if that
went to the wikibook. That way, everybody can always point to one
resource as definitive.
I don't mean to be preachy about it or rain on anybody's parade
that is putting up yet another site about WebObjects. What I just
wrote might sound snappy or mean, but I don't mean it that way.
I'm just trying to advocate a central repository for everything so
people don't have to go here and there to get various pieces of the
overall puzzle. Maybe if you start a site, you could also make
sure that all of the contents of that site are also posted in the
wiki book in the sensible place? Thoughts?
I hear you Steven, so let me be clear my intention is not to
replicate or duplicate any of the contents in the wikibook. I agree
that it should contain the sum of the real-world knowledge possessed
by the community but it does have some failings when it comes to
presenting and attractive front to new developers - and they are my
focus.
1. It is butt ugly - not that that matters as far as the content is
concerned, but compare that with the Rails landing page and we are at
a serious disadvantage as far as the perception of new developers.
2. It doesn't support images or other rich media (if I'm wrong let me
know). The tutorials I am thinking about are high on visual appeal.
My philosophy is: If it looks easy, people will think it *is* easy
and if it looks cool, people will think it *is* cool.
3. It can be intimidating to new developers to WO. Pointing a new
developer at the wikibook is like pointing someone at Niagara Falls
for a glass of water (I just made that up, you can use it if you
want :-).
So:
1. A news site that gathers details from the disparate sources and
puts them in one place. ie: "ERSlenium.framework just added to
Project WONDER" and "WebObjects Wikibook enhanced with new
ERSelenium.framwork getting started guide" and "WWDC WebObjects Birds
of a Feather - flashback to the summer of love!" etc.
2. A tutorial site that offers task-oriented tutorial snippets. WIth
a focus on being well designed, attractive, inviting, and above all
easily digestible. Obviously each will contain links to the more
detailed documentation contained elsewhere.
Ultimately my focus is to entice new developers to the platform, and
realistically the only way to do that is with sites that compete with
the other frameworks vying for this mind share (ie: Rails, Django,
TurboGears, etc).
--
;david
--
David LeBer
Codeferous Software
'co-def-er-ous' adj. Literally 'code-bearing'
site: http://codeferous.com
blog: http://davidleber.net
profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidleber
--
Toronto Area Cocoa / WebObjects developers group:
http://tacow.org
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