[TYPO3-UG US] Documentation team volunteer and indexing question

[Christopher]

On 24/10/05, Alex Heizer <alex at tekdevelopment.com> wrote (to the English List):

> The US documentation team is doing this, beginning with the extension
> manuals, and will move on to all the documentation. We will also be
> helping out with a "Learning TYPO3" package that will consolidate the
> "GoLive", "MTB1&2", "FTB", "Getting Started", "TypoScript By Example"
> manuals, and others into a single set of documentation that will lead a
> new website developer through learning T3 using relevant examples and
> processes.

In response to some of the posts to the English list in the last
couple of weeks discussing the tone of the lists and the difficulties
new Typo3 users can have a) figuring out the system, and b) getting
help, I was thinking about suggesting that the community adopt
somthing like a standard tutorial that new users could be directed to.

My theory was that, if new users (or a significant percentage of them)
could be assumed to have had a broad and complete (if shallow)
introduction to Typo3, it'd make it easier a) for them to ask
questions in an intelligent way, and b) for more experienced users to
help -- perhaps by building on a standard set of examples.

What I had in mind was a tutorial -- hopefully < 75 pages or so in
size -- that could provide a pretty complete introduction to the major
areas of Typo3, from installation and interface, to templating, to
more advanced TS, to TSconfig, to user groups and permissions and
access. The idea would be to a) provide a sound basis for further
learning and b) to include a select bibliography of available Typo3
documentation, all while focussing on getting a complete website up
and running.

However, since Alex mentions consolidating various manuals and
tutorials above, and talks as though the project has already started,
I'd be pleased to volunteer for any part of laying out, writing,
editing, testing or proofing such a document. Where can I find out
more about what's going on with this project? It occurs to me that if
we did a sufficiently good job with a document like this, it could
form the basis for (or simply _be_) a study guide for the
Association's ongoing certification project (not to mention a good
training tool for Typo3 agencies' new staffers...)

On a slightly different note, something I have thought that the Typo3
documentation needed ever since I first encountered it was an INDEX --
a _proper_ index, not just another table of contents. Is there anyone
on this list with a background in library sciences who'd be willing to
even entertain the idea of thinking about such a gargantuan job?


-Christopher (in Vancouver, but lacking a Typo3 CA list...)