[TYPO3-UG US] Outline of "Learning TYPO3" documentation

[virgil huston]

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for the comments and offer of help. This doc project will
require lots of people, one person (particulary me) cannot do it.

On 11/12/05, Christopher <bedlamhotel at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Virgil,
>
> It's nice to see something like this taking shape. Firstly, if you
> need any writing in this document, I'd be happy to help. My strongest
> areas with respect to what you've outlines are the interactions
> between TS/XHTML/CSS involved in templating. Secondly, I have a few
> comments about the outline:

Great!
>
>
> On 12/11/05, virgil huston <virgil.huston at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Outline of "Learning TYPO3" documentation. Comments and suggestions
> > welcome.  I tried posting this to the test.typo3.us forum, but it
> > would not hold my login.
> >
> > Virgil
> >
> > Manual 1. Installation and Configuration (separate manual without
> > upgrade section)
> >
> > a. Will cover the basic installation process, along with configuration
> > and explanation of what is going on in the process (better explanation
> > of database setup, ImageMajik, etc.)
> >
> > b. will have operating system specific pages/sections (will need
> > volunteers to write on specific OS, I can do Fedora)
> >
> > c. the existing manuals will be used heavily, but updated and expanded
>
>
> Sounds good. A suggestion: the thing about installing Typo3 that took
> me the longest to learn was all the damned options in the Install
> Tool. An appendix/section or even separate document that's only
> concerned with these might be a good idea...

Good idea, I still don't really know if I have all the install
configuration settings right :-). I had intended on having a detailed
explanation of all the settings so people can make an informed
decision. There are some other glitches that hopefully will get
corrected in the new "LT3" package, like the fact that I have never
been able to create a database via the install tool, even though that
is recommended. I always have to have one set up and ready to go. I am
not sure if this is a common problem or something with my server
setup.

>
>
> > Manual 2. Learning TYPO3 (from a number of manuals, updated,
> > rewritten, and expanded)
> >
> > Section a. General principles
> > 1. Backend and frontend
> > 2. Pagetree
> > 3. Special pages
> > 4. Pages and Page content
> > 5. Backend mo0dules
>
>
> I've recently written a rough but fairly detailed 'getting around the
> back end' document for a client (about 20pp) that I could anonymize
> and offer as an aid to the creation of this part of the document. If I
> took out the parts relevant only to the client's site and to
> extensions, it'd be about 15 pages I think. It's organized a bit
> differently from what you've shown above, but it's based on training
> sessions I've had with different clients.

This would be wonderful. Thanks.
>
> I'm not sure if you have already identified the target audience for
> this document or not--though I guess its targeted  at admins /
> developers--but it might be worthwhile to include smallish sections on
> TSConfig. I know after 3 years' use of Typo3, this is still something
> that gets me from time to time.

This is a good question and it needs to be defined/discussed. I think
developers are the main audience, IAW whoever is installing,
configuring, and getting the site set up.
>
>
> > Section b. Templates (combination of MTB and GoLive tutorials)
>
>
> Given that a) Templavoila is heading for a 1.0 release, b) is rather
> popular, c) is so flexible and d) that [as I see from the Typo3
> English list] its relationship to TS is not that well understood, I'd
> suggest including a section based on FTB too (I've seen lots of
> comments in posts to the list along the lines of "I don't know if this
> TS works with Templavoila, but..." when in fact virtually everything
> works no differently).

This could be a section. I think the key here is that at the beginning
of the Template section, there be a detailed description of all the
options, pros and cons, etc.

>
>
> > Section c. Implementing extensions (will be a section on each
> > extension in the package, as well as an explanation of what extensions
> > are and how to use the Extension Manager). Note that each extension
> > section will also be a separate manual.
>
>
> This section could be a monster :)

Yes, but the "LT3" package will have a set of common/popular
extensions that come with it and these sections (maybe also separate
manuals) will cover these extensions. The idea is to have everything
in one place.
>
> Robert Lemke is finishing up the TER 2 project as I understand it; it
> might be good to hold off on beginning this section until we know if
> he'll be making any significant changes to the Extension Manager.
>
Agree, I guess I need to find out what is going on with this.
>
> > Section d. Where to go from here - an explanation of the documentation
> > structure, support forums, and where to find consultancies to provide
> > TYPO3 services
>
>
> Incidentally, I'm glad you posted this to the mailing list. I wouldn't
> have found out about this on the forum for days...

I am a mailing list guy, as well :-), but the forum wouldn't let me
post, in any case.

Virgil
>
>
> -Christopher
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