[TYPO3] Documentation nightmare

[Dmitry Dulepov [typo3]]

Hi!

Vincent wrote:
> Typo3 is cool so far but the documentation drives me crazy!

No doubt :( You are not alone.

> In the TypoScript by example tutorial, there is an example that has 
> 
>     page.5 = HMENU 
>     page.5.1 = TMENU 
>     page.5.1.wrap = | <BR><BR>
>     page.5.1.NO {
>       linkWrap = &nbsp;<font color=yellow> | </font>&nbsp;
>       ATagBeforeWrap = 1
>     } 
> 
> So I see if I can look up the "NO" attribute in the TSref documentation
> for practice becoming familiar with TSref.
> 
> Naturally, since this attribute is being added to a TMENU object,
> I lookup TMENU.
> 
> No mention of "NO" or "ACT" properties it under TMENU at all.
> 
> Finally, I find it under a separate section, 
>     "Common item states for TMENU, GMENU and IMGMENU series:"  
> Hmm.  There should have at least been a comment under TMENU
> pointing me there.  Preferably a link I could click on.
> 
> So I go to that section in the TSref.
> 
> There, for the "NO" property, it says it is a Boolean value and has an
> example.

Not exactly ;) It says "Boolean / (config)". In TMENU you have:

[Common Item States, see above] || ->TMENUITEM

I agree it is not obvious, could be better. Do you mind writing a bug report to bugs.typo3.org for documentation?

>     page.20 = HMENU
>     page.20.1 = TMENU
>     page.20.1.NO = 1
> 
> No resemblance to it's usage in the tutorial.  No mention of
> a "ATagBeforeWrap" setting or any other usage other than assigning
> a Boolean value.  Arrgh!

It is described in TMENUITEM section.

> Is the TSref wrong, incomplete, or out of date, or is the tutorial out
> of date, etc?

I understand your frustration. I felt the same many years ago. TSRef is really a ref. I can advise only one thing: download sxw file of TSRef. While you go through TS examples, just search TSRef file for properties. You cannot do it on the web but with file you can! It all will make sense after couple of weeks :)

> I appreciate all the wonderful work that has gone into typo3 but I just
> do not understand the primary tutorials and documentation being 4 to
> 5 years old with all the substantial changes that have been made.

Changes to docs are collected on the wiki, they should appear in official docs at some point. There is a single person who is allowed to update docs and that person is extremely busy (as most in core team). That's life...

> Futuristic Template Building - last update: 02.02.2004 15:54

This one needs a complete rewrite. It is still valid but some things are obsolete and it is easier to write new from scratch than to fix old one. Probably I should be responsible for it as I support TV now but I have no time for it either :(

> Every document I find is ancient, yet there are all these cool new
> features mention in the modern releases.  How is a newbe to learn them?

It's open source, mate :( One way to push it is to pay for it but it is obvious that very few people will want to pay for doc updates.

-- 
Dmitry Dulepov
TYPO3 core team
Web: http://typo3bloke.net/
Skype: callto:liels_bugs
"Nothing is impossible. There are only limits to our knowledge"