Need help with putting the old Tablet School text on the wiki

[krisse]

Well, if I'm going to be doing the new Maemo School videos and tutorials only about the new device(s), I might as well donate the old Internet Tablet School text to the wiki.

Please don't start copying any content yet though, I want to make sure a few problems are going to be sorted out before transferring anything.

Some of the content may be slightly out of date (for example putting a Diablo tablet into host mode is a lot more difficult than Chinook), but if it's wikified then anyone will be able to update it, so presumably this shouldn't be too big a problem. Presumably people will keep the target audience in mind when doing updates?

The thing that's most needed on the wiki is a separate tutorial index page. The current wiki index is alphabetical which doesn't really make it easy for beginners to browse (try browsing for how to send an e-mail for example). An index by theme, with articles manually ordered by importance (important basic stuff at the top of each theme) would be much more suited to beginners.

It would also be nice if there was some kind of prominent link on the site to the beginner's stuff because beginners are going to be less likely to explore the nooks and crannies of maemo.org.

[krisse]

No replies at all?

In previous threads some people said they wanted tutorials done as text added to the wiki. At least a few people said they'd help with wikifying the existing Internet Tablet School texts if I wanted to donate them.

Now that I'm trying to donate the ITS's existing texts to the wiki, there's total silence.

Should I just drop the whole idea? (That's not meant to sound diva-esque, it's a straightforward question.)

Like I said in the other thread, if someone else wants to do some better tutorials that's great. I'm offering these tutorials because no one else seems to want to do any.

[qole]

You must have patience
The volunteers will come soon
(Was just reading this)

[LABAUDIO]

because iam a french noob and cause i have a time to give
because internet tablet school and maemo wiki help me a lot in user view
i can give a time to shell all text school in the wiki (if you give me update you want on your content and if you give me a good categorized chart like you said upthere


but use me if you dont have a better man for that

[krisse]

(bangs head on table)

When I did tablet school, people suggested I should put its content on maemo.org.

When I posted about putting tablet school content onto maemo.org there were immediate replies from several people vehemently saying "it's got to be in the wiki, it will only work if it's in the wiki, I'll help you put it in the wiki".

Now that I'm offering to put tablet school content on maemo.org through the wiki and asking for their help, they don't reply.

Well, I got one reply by PM but it basically said do it yourself if you want, but the wiki already has most of the topics covered.

(bangs head on table)

[timsamoff]

I've been out of town for several days, so I'm just getting back online. Give me a couple of days to get back in the swing. And, I can help as well.

Tim

[krisse]

Okay, maybe I spoke too soon! Thanks for the offer!

Can anyone address the index issue though? As it stands it's too difficult for beginners to find what they want from an alphabetical index. It needs to be organised by theme if it's to be made easy to browse.

[Jaffa]

Similar to Tim, not checked tmo for over 24 hours (a bit odd in and of itself, admittedly), but 3 messages in just under 24 hours is a bit quick to moan about a lack of help.

The main concrete thing you need at the moment, I think, is a new index page? I'd suggest making sure each page includes, at the footer:

[[Category:School]]

And it's probably worth creating the pages under a "School" namespace (possibly by OS as well): "http://wiki.maemo.org/School/Diablo/Enabling_USB_host"

Finally, Iet's have some guidelines for title: in your example above I could have called it "How_to_enable_USB_host_on_diablo" but I went for the consistent "<verb>_<noun>" structure in an active tense. It's an approach ("how to" is superfluous either way, I think) but I think some consistency would be good before too much content gets cross-linked.

[GeneralAntilles]

Originally Posted by krisse

Well, I got one reply by PM but it basically said do it yourself if you want, but the wiki already has most of the topics covered.

Chill, please.

That's not remotely what I said. I don't have unlimited free time at the moment, and I have several more immediate obligations to address with the time that I do have. If you want to start moving the texts to the wiki then I can do a little cleanup cleanup after you do so. The index stuff, etc. can wait until later.

Originally Posted by Jaffa

{{Category:School}}

Make that:

[[Category:School]]

Originally Posted by Jaffa

And it's probably worth creating the pages under a "School" namespace (possibly by OS as well): "http://wiki.maemo.org/School/Diablo/Enabling_USB_host"

I'd prefer for them to be in the main "namespace" (namespaces look like "School:<article title>" actually), personally, but it's up to the group (and they can always be moved later).

[krisse]

Originally Posted by Jaffa

Similar to Tim, not checked tmo for over 24 hours (a bit odd in and of itself, admittedly), but 3 messages in just under 24 hours is a bit quick to moan about a lack of help.

Well, it was more that I saw some of the pro-wiki people posting in lots of other threads but not this one.

And then the PM saying that most of the ITS content was already covered by the current wiki content...

Anyway. :-)

And it's probably worth creating the pages under a "School" namespace (possibly by OS as well): "http://wiki.maemo.org/School/Diablo/Enabling_USB_host"

I really don't know what that means... sorry.

Ahhh, hang on, you mean like a sub-directory of a website?

The OS thing could be a problem as some of the tutorials only work with Chinook (mostly the ones that depend on host mode as there's no easy way to put Diablo tablets into host mode AFAIK).

Also, beginners probably won't know what their OS version is because it's not really mentioned anywhere in the interface. They are much more likely to just know the model number of their tablet, and whether they have updated the firmware.

The approach perhaps ought to be that people find tutorials by tablet model, and are told to update to the latest firmware in order to make the tutorial work. That way they wouldn't have to know anything about firmware versions, merely make sure they have updated the firmware recently.

Of course it would mean the tutorials would all have to be checked (and possibly updated) to make sure they work with Diablo.

Finally, Iet's have some guidelines for title: in your example above I could have called it "How_to_enable_USB_host_on_diablo" but I went for the consistent "<verb>_<noun>" structure in an active tense. It's an approach ("how to" is superfluous either way, I think) but I think some consistency would be good before too much content gets cross-linked.

Clarity might be more important than consistency. Some tutorial titles lend themselves to "how to" but others don't. Couldn't titles be done on a case-by-case basis?