[TYPO3-hci] a newcomer's introduction and TSref

[Silke Arend]

> Silke Arend schrieb am 26.06.2006 13:51:
> 
> > Is it just because I don't know Typo3 well enough yet, or why should
> > one not use Typo3 itself for the TSref?
> > 
> > The need of extension programming is obvious. On the other hand, I
> > would need that for my organization system anyways. And  it would be
> > a prominent example of what you can do with Typo3 - instead of using
> > a different software and thereby stating, Typo3 is not capable of
> > handling this task or at least for this purpose it is not the first
> > choice.
> > 
> > Please, help me to understand the problem with using Typo3 here.
> 
> Online documentation is using TYPO3 already: It extracts the information
> from an external source (the OpenOffice documentation) and "integrates"
> it into TYPO3 in form of plugins. I think this shows different strong
> points of TYPO3: extendability and no limits in input formats: you just
> have to create some plugins, as the typo3.org people did it.
> 
> The use of OpenOffice makes it very easy for extension authors to
> document their extensions (or create tutorials, etc), because its is
> freely available and is not dependent on any other database or system.
> 

Please, don't get me wrong: I don't want to argue, I am just trying to understand: To make content available on the Internet is - simply expressed - the core function of Typo3 - right? So, should it really be necessary to use a word processing software in the process? 
The TSref, the way it is now, does not display one of the major aspects of the Internet: linking content...  And it does not reflect the database aspect of Typo3.

In terms of availability: who ever needs to write a documentation for Typo3 will have Typo3 ready to use anyways...

And I think the TSref is to be seen differently: it is used as a reference, again and again. Whereas a documentation of an extension most often will be read only when starting to use the extension or when trying to adjust it later on. In other words: a different approach for TSref would be justified. If it would turn out to be an nteresting approach for other types of documentation as well, that would be an extra bonus - not a prerequisite.

> The other alternative that you seem to suggest is to have all
> documentation content being maintained as TYPO3-content elements and
> then use that database information to construct other output (PDF, etc)
> on demand.
> 
For TSref: yes.

> Although I think this should be possible, its a complete different way
> of doing it and would require a huge amount of code to get it working,
> which I don't think we are capable of bringing up right now. For such
> tasks we usually have to wait for some "standing by" hero that just goes
> ahead and "does it". :)

I have no idea right now, how much work it would involve, and I am for sure no hero ;-)  yet I would consider going ahead by at first counting the costs - if it is worthwhile. I don't want to start a project for the sake of keeping myself busy.... What are others thinking of this idea?

Bye, for now

Silke