Collaborative SXW work process, part I [was: Re: [Typo3-documentation] Wiki or SXW]

[Jean-Marie Schweizer]

Hi Karsten Dambekalns wrote:

> Although I'm not in the doc group,
There is no need to be in the doc group to be heard and recoginzed.


> I understand you want to have a wiki in place so that everyone can
> work on the thing together. 

There is much more to wiki than just that. I find Wikipedia quite 
impressive (http://www.wikipedia.org).


> But as I see it, it is more realistic if
> a writer (or a small group) focuses on a specific part (or chapter).
> This is a similar concept to the one used when the current Blender
> manual was written (though it was written in Docbook and managed in
> CVS during writing).

IMHO CVS is fine for developers, check in, check out. I tried similar 
concepts working with designers and writers too. Didn't convince me. Too 
much trouble to set up, especially if you have to deal with people who 
don't speak computers as their second language.

Wiki seems to be more advanced if you look at it from the aspect of 
sharing and ease of use.


> 
> So I think there may be two ways to solve this 'dilemma' (if it is
> one, in fact):
> 
> 1. Use OpenOffice, but don't write one big document. Instead everyone
> writes his chapter and the 'whole manual' is put together by means of
> a master document binding the parts together.

We would end up trying to handle a lot of small documents. Kasper 
mentioned that in real life some documents take months to be completed. 
That can happen with smaller documents too which wouldn't be sufficient 
at all.

To have something available online where everone can add, correct or 
continue if a writer drops out is very sufficient.

> 2. Use OpenOffice, but set up a structure that allows to sync the
> local working copy of the document with a CVS repository. This might
> consist of an upload form where I can upload my changed document, it
> gets unpacked and checked in to CVS. Afterwards I get an updated
> document for download.

Again my experience just doesn't let me warm up to that. But I'm open. 
If you or someone can set up a CVS that is easy to handle and let us 
focus on writing I'm up for it.

> Hope this helps, and thanks for at least wanting to work on this!

Thank you for your comments. I really appreciate it.

I am concerned about the Wiki/SXW problem. I sometimes  want to download 
a document and print it out or be able to read it off line. That's why I 
think we cannot ignore SXW at all.

But if we found a way to create good quality SXW from Wiki I don't see 
why we should bother with Open Office.

I really hopen that Sebastian is coming up with a great solution . Maybe 
some developers will assist him.

Jean-Marie