[Mono-docs-list] Intended Audiance of Developer Resource Category?

[Adrien Dessemond]

Hello!

 >I've got a short and simple question. For whom is the Developer Resource
 >Category for? People who want to develop apps by using Mono, or Mono-Hackers
 >themselves?

 >If it is a mixup of both I would suggest to separate this into three
 >categories.
 >1. Developer Resource
 >2. Mono Hacker Resources: For people hacking mono directly.
 >3. Windows Porting

This is good idea ! The pit to not fall into is to have a too 
complicated structure at the end (the MSDN library suffers of that).

Beyond your suggestion, could I express a more personal point of 
view  ? I apologize if was previously discussed and/or conflict with 
some project orientations. I am curious to get some feedback about it 
and by the way, may it will bring some ideas too.

<personal point of view>

I am following (from a far away point of view) the Mono project for 
more than 2 years and started to seriously use Mono for a personal 
project a couple a weeks ago. Because writing and dealing with 
documentation is my everyday job, I was led to the following reflection :

My personal and professional experiences told me that even you have 
the most advanced/robust/complete/flexible product, it will rejected 
by some of your users if it does not have robust (clear/concise/....) 
and well-organized (logically organized / easily-browsable) documentation.

To try to figure out my idea : imagine you are just curious to see 
what Mono is. You launch your favorite browser, you type 
www.mono-project.com in the URL bar et voila : the site has a very 
nice look-and feel, downloads/blogs links are easy to reach, general 
project information is easy to find and clear enough.

Now come to site as a developper : you know what Mono is, you have 
dowloaded and installed it. You have precise goals in mind about your 
documentation search and no time to loose in guessing where the stuff 
could be. If you wish to get the right thing right now... not very easy :-(.

 From my point of view, the developer related documentation will need 
a different approach sooner or later as Mono popularity, maturity and 
user base are growing. You cannot afford to keep it scattered on many 
pages with no clear linking and no easily browsable central point. 
That will be a nightmare to maintain, a pain to consult and a huge 
source of frustation.

This new approach /could be/ a Wikipedia-like site but wholly 
dedicated to Mono. Several reasons :

1 - We are very familiar with Wikipedia so using (say) Monopedia will 
not require extra learning effort
2 - A wiki usage is natural especially for a developper and offers a 
high level a flexibility and diversity
3 - Monopedia could follow the same philosophy as Wikipedia : 
everyone can contribute freely in "real-time".
(3' - Writing and cross-referencing between articles is really simple)
4 - The wiki documentation grows by itself in the background and 
allow the Mono documentation team concentrate on other tasks.

Do you think this kind of perspective could be compatible with the 
Mono documentation project (short/long term) ? I welcome any 
opinion/criticism :-)

</personal point of view>

Valentin, I would be very glad to help you and any Mono documentation 
project efforts in manner or another.

Kind regards,

Adrien Dessemond