On Tue, Jun 06, 2006 at 01:15:11AM +0200, Lo?c Martin wrote:
It's true some might think it overkill and esteem that not many stuff would get done. However, a good effect of a wiki is that it would make it possible to colaborate to a good "official" Inkscape guide that would get included in Inkscape distributed packages. At the moment, it looks like there's two or three different guide, all of them incomplete, and some single pages that are not the same depending on the language.
It would be nice to put on the wiki one of the guide (the most complete one?) if the author agrees and is happy to collaborate with others. The copyright could be owned by Inkscape, or published under an Open Document license (or any other that would suit Inkscape developers).
Let us know what you think. If Inkscape guide writers are interested, it would be nice to hear their opinion about it. For me, I just know that contacting the authors, downloading the guide somewhere, editing the pages as html or the format required by the guide, learning how to add pictures THEN having to sync everything and wait till the author commits the changes... is something I can't do. However, starting my browser wherever I am for a few hours editing a wiki when I have the time is doable, and far better for collaborative work. Then we would have a nice manual along Inkscape (the pages done in svg inside Inkscape are wonderfull, and the one(s) that made them is really a good teacher - it's just the online manuals I have a grip with :P )
Sorry, I just realised there was a wiki afterwards. And my email has been delayed for strange reasons (it was two days old at least) so it's a bit late.
Yes, the wiki would suit my needs. However, Inkscape guides aren't in the wiki, but on privates pages (so it seems) and seems to be done as a one person job.
It's not just the duplication of efforts, it's also the fact that you can't really easily contribute. A guide on the wiki could progress faster than a single person could do on its spare time.
By 'guides' what specifically are you referring to? The tutorials (which are in svn and we can get you an account)? Or one of the Inkscape Manuals? IIRC there are two manuals - one that was written initially in French and translated into other languages (I don't think the English translation is complete though), and another that someone started as a private project that is actually *quite* complete.
If it's this latter manual, part of the motivation there is that the author is trying to get it published. In general it's hard getting books about open source applications published, and especially so if the content is also available as open source, or has any copyright questions. Almost always, I'm a big proponent of making everything open source, but in this case I think Inkscape will gain more in the long run if the book gets published. Of course, if the book can be published *and* be open sourced, that'd be even better!
Bryce