opinon on help that you can find on openSUSE wiki

[rajko_m]

I would like to ask for your opinion on help that you get reading openSUSE
Wiki, http://en.opensuse.org , from theoretical what you like and what not,
to practical, what did you look for and could not find, and of course when
you got idea to leave your foot on wiki what prevented you from helping, if
anything.

--
Regards, Rajko
http://news.opensuse.org/category/people-of-opensuse/

[Chrysantine]

Well, whilst it's not directly related to your question - what I would like to see on the openSuSE wiki would be fuzzy pattern matching.

For example, if I were to open Woot - openSUSE and the wiki system would notice that there is a page called woot_cooties, it would automatically re-direct me to that page, instead of having to use the search function.

Since the wiki is based on Mediawiki, this fuzzy pattern matching should be built-in.

[oldcpu]

Further to this, for any users reading this thread, there is also an effort being made to start an IRC chat channel for wiki documentation for openSUSE. The channel is on freenode, IRC #opensuse-wiki.

[67GTA]

The wiki is not as bad as some claim. I don't have any trouble finding what I need with a google search. I can find a sdb or howto article on the wiki that way. I don't actually use http://en.opensuse.org I would be glad to help edit the wiki, but I don't really understand the wiki editing language. If it were more like using a text editor with the syntax hidden, I think more people would help. Oldcpu actually had to enter info for me a while back. I also agree with Chrysantine. I don't use the wiki search because it is too precise. You have to almost have the exact search term to find anything. A "fuzzy" search would be much better.

[rajko_m]

Chrysantine wrote:

>
> Well, whilst it's not directly related to your question - what I would
> like to see on the openSuSE wiki would be fuzzy pattern matching.

Here are some options discussed (without conclusion):
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-p.../msg00148.html

> For example, if I were to open 'Woot - openSUSE'
> (http://en.opensuse.org/woot) and the wiki system would notice that
> there is a page called woot_cooties, it would automatically re-direct me
> to that page, instead of having to use the search function.
>
> Since the wiki is based on Mediawiki, this fuzzy pattern matching
> should be built-in.

It seems not in current version:
http://en.opensuse.org/Special:Version

The upgrade is on the way, but there is no final date, it depends on current
admins available time.

BTW, here are some comments after discussion during Community Week:
http://en.opensuse.org/Wiki_Team/Mee..._05_13-summary

--
Regards, Rajko
http://news.opensuse.org/category/people-of-opensuse/

[rajko_m]

67GTA wrote:

>
> The wiki is not as bad as some claim. I don't have any trouble finding
> what I need with a google search. I can find a sdb or howto article on
> the wiki that way. I don't actually use 'http://en.opensuse.org'
> (http://en.opensuse.org/) I would be glad to help edit the wiki, but I
> don't really understand the wiki editing language.

It is actually easy for the very beginning :-)
See http://en.opensuse.org/OpenSUSE_Style_Guide ,
and tell me what to improve [1].

There are of course similar problems, like growing body of obsolete
articles.

I took today time to fix http://en.opensuse.org/ATI .
There is a lot of information that refer to problems that are solved long
time ago, making article unacceptably large and complex for the people that
need it the most, new Linux users.

So if you don't have time to edit, you may want to read and give comments
about articles, where the ATI articles is perfect example why is that
necessary. There is opensuse-wiki mail list that is created just for
discussions about wiki and it would be the most appropriate place to leave
feedback.

I don't know is it possible/feasible to create similar forum here, with
advantage that there is no subscription, many users are visiting them, no
time zone problems, and disadvantage that would be third place about
documentation effort on openSUSE wiki (after mail list and IRC channel).


> If it were more like
> using a text editor with the syntax hidden, I think more people would
> help.

For now there will be no editor.
Wiki technical maintenance is very understaffed and even update to newer
version of Mediawiki software doesn't fly. So far I know, currently only one
man suppose to do that, so it will not come very fast.


> Oldcpu actually had to enter info for me a while back. I also
> agree with Chrysantine. I don't use the wiki search because it is too
> precise. You have to almost have the exact search term to find anything.
> A "fuzzy" search would be much better.

Agree, see the answer to Chrysantine for more information.



[1] Simple way to use wiki is one of things that are missing, and this
appear as minimum to me:
1) Headings are defined with equal signs, like == Heading == , more makes
title smaller.
2) The empty line separate paragraphs.
3) The space on the begin of the line will make all text to the end of line
to appear as a fixed font,
4) List items start with *
5) Preview button in editing window is to see the article before publishing
with Save.
6) If you have problems, look on http://en.opensuse.org/Wiki_Team for
contact information.

That is all you need to start with.

--
Regards, Rajko
http://news.opensuse.org/category/people-of-opensuse/