sageTV manual on the web?

[tchapin]

Hi there,

I don't know if this is a nutty idea or what, but with all the posts that people make that get referred to the manual, I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to post the manual somewhere / somehow to the web as a set of HTML pages.

Perhaps as a wiki?

That way, people could link to the exact thing that's referenced.

Improved search capability.

It would allow people that have problems and solve them to update / comment on that part of the manual to improve it.

What do you think?

I'd be willing to put in some work on this.

[Fuzzy]

there have, over the years, been a few sage based wiki's... they all seem to have been destroyed by vandals enough to be abandoned. Not to say it isn't a good idea, but just warning that it isn't easy.

[tchapin]

Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be a wiki. And if it is a wiki, it doesn't have to be wide open to everyone.

But the thrust of my question is, do you think it would be useful if there were an online version of the manual?

[MitchSchaft]

Just download the PDf or look at the manual that's in Sage itself.

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by MitchSchaft

Just download the PDf or look at the manual that's in Sage itself.

I was going to post something similar, but then realized what the OP posted

Originally Posted by tchapin

That way, people could link to the exact thing that's referenced.

Improved search capability.

While the PDF is available, it's difficult to link to the precise point in the manual (you can do page numbers or section headers, etc). It's a nice idea, but not necessarily one that the Sage devs should do (which makes it perfect for a community project).

[Skirge01]

Once a few people pointed to a couple of pages in the manual for referencing my questions, I found it quite easy to use the manual myself. PDF's are easy to search and the SageTV manual has plenty of links to jump from section to section. Basically, if the information was in the manual, I've had no issues finding it.

Also, my hat's off to the SageTV folks for keeping the manual up to date! Documentation is usually the first thing that gets dropped during any project.

[GKusnick]

I'm not sure I buy the "improved search" argument. Adobe's PDF reader has a perfectly adequate search function (if only people would use it).

Direct links to specific pages might be convenient for the person asking the question, not so convenient for the person answering it. Personally I think that the burden of effort ought to be the other way round, with the asker willing to do most of the work in order to make things as painless as possible for the answerer. That would reasonably include being prepared to look up answers in the manual (preferably before posting).

I do agree that expecting the Sage devs to maintain two versions of the manual in two different formats is probably not a good use of their time (unless the production of the HTML version can be completely automated).

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

(unless the production of the HTML version can be completely automated).

Not as of a few years ago when I went Looking for Word to PDF & HTML conversion tools (for SageTV manual). I decided to just stick with PDF.

- Andy