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

[Christopher]

Hi again,

On 13/11/05, virgil huston <virgil.huston at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Christopher,

<snip>

> > 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.

Probably (without checking the code...) creating the db requires root
access to mysqladmin (e.g. notice that the install tool doesn't ask
for a password to issue the db creation commands). Maybe for these
settings we should duplicate Peter Kindstrom's glossary effort on the
wiki? It might be a way to get a few more helping hands for a tricky
task.

> > > 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've just cleared this with the client, so I will try to cut it down
and take out the client-specific parts before sending it to you /
making it public as a draft. I'll also try to write a little document
about the conventions I use in the doc. Of course both that and the
how-to parts will be open for virtually any suggestions, corrections
omissions etc.

With a bit of luck I could have this ready by Monday. Feel free to
prod me if it doesn't show up by early in the week next week...

<big snip>

One thing that occurred to me is that this 'document' being planned a)
is potentially huge, and b) may need to serve several audiences. Given
that one way of accessing it will be via the web, we may want to try
to think very modularly in the design and planning of it (as you've
already suggested with respect to the plugin sections). If we
successfully make some of the sections sufficiently independent of one
another, it might be possible to define 'paths' through the
documentation, depending on what audience is reading...I would _love_
to see a way online of checking off boxes next to a list and being
able to download and print a document containing only the checked
sections. However, *I* am not proposing to do this ;-)

-Christopher