[Zope] reality check

[Brian Lloyd]

> >> While it hurts, it's not far from the truth. Have you 
> considered putting a
> >> guy/gal on documentation exclusively? In the projects I 
> have encountered in
> >> real life (if I can be said to have such a thing ;), I've 
> found this provides
> >> the most consistent and best documentation. A person who's 
> only job is to
> >> interact with the staff and provide legible information on 
> what they
> > produce is
> >> a godsend.

As Chris P. mentioned in a previous post, we do have a FT 
technical writer on staff. The key word here is _a_ :^) 
Zope is a fairly large subject. Much of the recent improvement
in docs is due to Pam's efforts, but there is a limit to what
any one person can accomplish.

Please understand that this is _not_ an excuse - it is something
that we understand painfully well, which is why Pam, Amos and Rob
have been putting so much work lately into a documentation strategy
that will allow us to coordinate and make the most of both internal
resources and the efforts of the Zope community. The new docs process
will allow motivated Zopistas to take ownership of various doc efforts
and work hand-in-glove with the DC effort with a minimum of pain and
overhead. 

Believe me, we are _not_ turning a deaf ear toward the community's 
documentation concerns - we have probably just not been vocal enough 
about what we are doing about it. The DC docs tiger team here has 
just about finished a strategy which will allow us to partition the
docs in way that not only allows us to better keep up with docs 
internally but also lets the community take the lead on areas of 
concern to them without us holding them up. I expect that there will
be an announcement regarding this quite soon, so hang in there!


Brian Lloyd        brian@digicool.com
Software Engineer  540.371.6909              
Digital Creations  http://www.digicool.com