[Pipet Devel] Wiki for Piper?

[Brad Chapman]

Jean-Marc wrote:
>  Now, he have to fight over *Wiki* versus LaTeX versus AbiWord versus
>  LyX ;-)

Well, you've got me there :-).

[Wiki is really only for making Web based documentation]
>  This is a major disadvantage, I don't like the idea that the document
>  can be in
>  only one form. For that reason, I much prefer LyX (or LaTeX).

I guess we could make a distinction between two types of documentation:

1. Real hard-core documentation that describes a particular part of Piper
design or use. I agree with you that this should be done in LaTeX (or
rather, the format of whoever works on it first).

2. Documentation on ideas, design discussion, and "softer" documentation,
like how to install Piper, how to get started coding on Piper, ToDo
lists, etc. The distinction between this and "hard-core" documentation is
that this stuff is more likely to change regularly, and have multiple
people contribute to it (ie. to make install instructions more clear, add
to a discussion, etc). Anyways, I am for this type of documentation being
done in Wiki.

The reason I like Wiki is because I've just been trying to think up ideas
to make people more likely to contribute. Right now, if someone wanted to
contribute, basically we would just say something like: "Well, read
through the mailing list and get up to speed." which is not neccessarily
so easy or fun to do. I thought maybe if we could structure some
discussions in Wiki (or at least paste them over there after they happen
on the mailing list) it might help organize things and lessen the
barriers to entry.

What do you think? Do you think Wiki can serve a useful purpose, in
addition to LaTeX/LyX et al. documentation, in this type of framework?

Brad