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Sabre Cat
New Member
USA
55 Posts |
 Posted - 18 October 2000 : 19:11:19
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This is just the table of contents. Let me know what ya'll think... First pass. I'll probably go back and add more depth next time.
A) Administration FAQ/How To
A.2) Set up
A.2.2) Installing the Database
A.2.3) Does your server support it?
A.2.4) How to I decide what e-mail system to use?
A.2.5) Changing the Administrative Password
A.3) Customization (Setting up Look, Feel, and Features)
A.3.1) Main Forum Configuration
A.3.1.1) Forum's Title
A.3.1.2) Forum's Copyright
A.3.1.3) Title Image Location
A.3.1.4) Home URL
A.3.1.5) Forum URL
A.3.1.6) Version info
A.3.1.7) Authorization Type
A.3.1.8) Set Cookie To
A.3.1.9) Use Graphics as Buttons
A.3.1.10) Use Graphic for "Powered By" link
A.3.2) Feature Configuration
A.3.2.1) Restrict Moderators to moving their own topics
A.3.2.2) IP Logging
A.3.2.3) Private Forums
A.3.2.4) Show Moderators
A.3.2.5) Allow Forum Code
A.3.2.6) Images in Posts
A.3.2.7) Allow HTML
A.3.2.8) Secure Admin Mode
A.3.2.9) Non-Cookie Mode
A.3.2.10) Edited By on Date
A.3.2.11) Hot Topics
A.3.2.12) Icons
A.3.2.13) Detailed Statistics
A.3.2.14) Show Quick Paging
A.3.2.15) Show Prev / Next Topic
A.3.2.16) Items per page
A.3.2.17) Pagenumbers per row
A.3.3) Member Details Configuration
A.3.3.1) Fullname
A.3.3.2) Picture
A.3.3.3) Recent Topics
A.3.3.4) Sex (male/female)
A.3.3.5) Age
A.3.3.6) City
A.3.3.7) State
A.3.3.8) Country
A.3.3.9) ICQ
A.3.3.10) YAHOO
A.3.3.11) AIM
A.3.3.12) Occupation
A.3.3.13) Homepages
A.3.3.14) Favorite Links
A.3.3.15) Marital Status
A.3.3.16) Bio
A.3.3.17) Hobbies
A.3.3.18) Last News
A.3.3.19) Quote
A.3.4) Ranking Configuration
A.3.4.1) Description (It's basically self-explainitory)
A.3.5) Server Date/Time Configuration
A.3.5.1) Time Display
A.3.5.2) Time Adjustment
A.3.5.3) Date Display
A.3.6) Email Server Configuration
A.3.6.1) Email Mode
A.3.6.1.1) ASPMail
A.3.6.1.2) ASPEMail
A.3.6.1.3) ASPQMail
A.3.6.1.4) CDONTS
A.3.6.1.5) Chili!Mail
A.3.6.1.6) GeoCel
A.3.6.1.7) IISMail
A.3.6.1.8) JMail
A.3.6.1.9) SMTP
A.3.6.2) Email Server Address
A.3.6.3) Administrator Email Address
A.3.6.4) Require Unique Email
A.3.6.5) Require Logon for sending Mail
A.3.7) Font/Table Color Code Configuration
A.3.7.1) Font/Table Color Code Configuration
A.3.7.1.1) Font Face Type
A.3.7.1.2) Default Font Size
A.3.7.1.3) Header Font Size
A.3.7.1.4) Footer Font Size
A.3.7.1.5) Base Background Color
A.3.7.1.6) Default Font Color
A.3.7.1.7) Link Color
A.3.7.1.8) Link Decoration
A.3.7.1.9) Visited Link Color
A.3.7.1.10) Visited Link Decoration
A.3.7.1.11) Active Link Color
A.3.7.1.12) Hover Link Color
A.3.7.1.13) Hover Link Decoration
A.3.7.1.14) Header Background Color
A.3.7.1.15) Header Font Color
A.3.7.1.16) Category Background Color
A.3.7.1.17) Category Font Color
A.3.7.1.18) First Cell Color
A.3.7.1.19) First Alternating Cell Color
A.3.7.1.20) Second Alternating Cell Color
A.3.7.1.21) In Forum Font Color
A.3.7.1.22) In Forum Link Color
A.3.7.1.23) Table Border Color
A.3.7.1.24) Pop-Up Table Color
A.3.7.1.25) Pop-Up Table Border Color
A.3.7.1.26) New Font Color
A.3.7.2) Table Size Configuration
A.3.7.1.1) Topic Left Column Width
A.3.7.1.2) Topic NOWRAP Left
A.3.7.1.3) Topic Right Column Width
A.3.7.1.4) Topic NOWRAP Righ
A.3.8) Bad Word Feature Configuration
A.3.8.1) Description (Self explainitory)
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Sabre Cat
New Member
USA
55 Posts |
Posted - 18 October 2000 : 19:11:42
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A.4) Day-to-Day management (Adding New forums, deleting old ones, things of that nature)
A.4.1) Logging in as the Admin
A.4.2) Adding a new Catagory
A.4.3) Adding a new Forum
A.4.4) Adding a new URL
A.4.5) Deleting a Catagory
A.4.6) Deleting a Forum
A.4.7) Deleting A URL
A.4.8) Setting Moderators
A.4.9) Locking Catagories
A.4.10) Locking Forums
A.5) Adding User Mods (Basic instructions for adding new code)
A.5.1) I'm stumped. I need some help here!
A.6) Upgrading (Updated every time we put forth a new version. Including instructions for upgrading up to 2 versions back. Archived so you can look up past upgrades)
A.6.1) Varient - depending on system
A.7) Version History (Just what it sounds like. A COMPLETE feature list of EVERY version) (I cannot write this! Need help!)
A.7.1) Current Version
A.7.2) Version behind current version
A.7.3) Ectera
A.8) Managing your Users (Add/Delete/Modify/Lock)
A.8.1) Delete
A.8.2) Modify
A.8.2.1) User Name
A.8.2.2) Title
A.8.2.3) Password
A.8.2.4) Number of Posts
A.8.2.5) Signature
A.8.2.6) Member Level
A.8.2.6.1) Normal
A.8.2.6.1) Moderator
A.8.2.6.1) Administrator
A.8.3) Lock
B) User-Side FAQ
B.2) Registering
B.2.1) Basic Info... Just needs one section
B.3) Posting
B.3.1) Posting a new Topic
B.3.2) Replying to a Topic
B.4) Editing your posts
B.4.1) Basic Info... Just needs one section
B.5) Changing your User Information
B.5.1) Basic Info... Just needs one section
B.6) Messaging Functions
B.6.1) Sending a Topic to a Friend
B.6.2) Sending someone an IM Message
B.6.3) Sending someone an ICQ message
B.6.4) Sending someone a Yahoo Pager message
C) So you want to start a mod (None of this can I write. I need help from Gor or something =)
C.2) How to get the source code
C.3) Rules for modding (Your mod belongs to Snitz)
C.4) How to make your mod known
C.5) Basic file list (Breakdown of what each file does)
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ericdc
Starting Member
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 18 October 2000 : 22:43:58
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Sabre
So who is starting where? Do you want to have us all claim a small part (such as A.3.1) and write it unformatted and post it? Say doing something like establish a topic for each small section and have people say, "I'll do this part" and give a few days for completion. if not completed by the said completion date, reassign the section to another person. As docs are done, changes can be posted to that topic to corect erros and writing styles. After a week or so we should be close to done with the content. You can concentrate on format then and grab the content from the topics...
Any feedback on that?
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Sabre Cat
New Member
USA
55 Posts |
Posted - 19 October 2000 : 10:26:58
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Hey wow, someone responds... =)
My thoughts were that people could posts parts of the content, and if what they posted was "Up to par", then I'd put it in the outbox - awaiting the final draft.
At least, that's the way I'd like to do things for now. If we get to the point where we've got a whole helluva lot of people posting bits and peices, then I'll take some extra steps and make this easier for everyone. (Meaning that I'll set up an extra page listing what's been done and what hasn't been done).
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davemaxwell
Access 2000 Support Moderator
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 19 October 2000 : 10:33:55
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Here are my thoughts (simple as they might be):
The format you've come up with seems to be screen based. I would prefer to see a format by functionality. That way, someone could just go to the function they want to learn (How do I add a forum? How do I set up my board to use email? How do I post a topic? etc)
I would also like to see a basic format for the layout. That way everyone will work the same way.
Just MHO, though. Take it for what you will...
Dave Maxwell
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When's the next meeting of Snitzaholics Anonymous < |
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Sabre Cat
New Member
USA
55 Posts |
Posted - 19 October 2000 : 10:43:40
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David,
Maybe I'm showing my lack of morning coffee yet  , but I'm not sure what you mean by "Functionality based".
You'll notice that I have a section for every page. My thoughts around that are that people who want the really nitty-gritty type thing can go and see what every single input box means.
I've also put "How to add forums", "Deleting forums", ectera...
Aha, I think I see what you mean now. You're talking about more of a walk-through type system. The problem with that is that there may come a time when the documentation would need to be re-worked completely, as the process could change completely.
Although I suppose having a basic instructional of "How to do X" wouldn't hurt either, but it would also be a seperate document to what I posted...
Basic format: This one I honestly don't comprehend. What do you mean?
(All of this said in a friendly manner. It's early, so my apologies if I sound snippish  . I tend to "think out loud" on BBSes a lot...)
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davemaxwell
Access 2000 Support Moderator
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 19 October 2000 : 14:49:49
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quote:
Maybe I'm showing my lack of morning coffee yet ,
I know the feeling, but I'm more of a soda person myself
quote:
but I'm not sure what you mean by "Functionality based".
:
Aha, I think I see what you mean now. You're talking about more of a walk-through type system. The problem with that is that there may come a time when the documentation would need to be re-worked completely, as the process could change completely.
Exactly, I want to be able to go to the documentation with a question like "how do I allow ICQ or AIM to my users?" and be able to find that type of thing under a "Setting Member Priviledges" type of page. Or how to add a forum where the instructions would contain "Make sure you've added a category first. Click on the Add new Forum button next to the category." and such.
quote:
My thoughts around that are that people who want the really nitty-gritty type thing can go and see what every single input box means.
I would think the documentation should contain this so there is a "one-stop" shopping style where they don't have to go to multiple locations for answers.
quote:
Basic format: This one I honestly don't comprehend. What do you mean?
I would want to see a template for what information should be contained, whether to use screenshots, etc. If you're planning on doing most of the format to make it consistent, that's cool (I did see your other post), but I think making sure everyone is returning the same basic style of information will solve problems down the road.
quote:
(All of this said in a friendly manner. It's early, so my apologies if I sound snippish . I tend to "think out loud" on BBSes a lot...)
No problem. I tend to think out loud myself....
Dave Maxwell
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When's the next meeting of Snitzaholics Anonymous< |
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Reinsnitz
Snitz Forums Admin
USA
3545 Posts |
Posted - 19 October 2000 : 15:03:14
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Welcome to the age of Electronic Documentation!
First off, we need to write the content... formating can come later (and be done very easily), but worst of worst cases would be to have TWO tables of contents!
Better than that in my opinion would be to have a basic Table of Contents, and an Apendix or Two that list the manuals contents in a couple different ways :)
Either way, it sounds like you guys are on the right path!
Reinsnitz (Mike)
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight.
-- Proverbs 3:5-6< |
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Sabre Cat
New Member
USA
55 Posts |
Posted - 19 October 2000 : 15:27:55
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David, come to my arms! 
Well, here we have a basic thing to think about. Do we want to list what everything DOES... Or how to DO things? Or both?
Both would basically require two table of contents, and two different documents. However, just saying how to DO things means that the little obscure slide bar in the far left corner of the administrative screen may go undocumented (chaos! Fire! agony! =). Saying what everything DOES means that more things would be documented, but that people may have to dig a little bit more to figure out how to DO things.
I hope that made sense
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Doug G
Support Moderator
USA
6493 Posts |
Posted - 19 October 2000 : 17:27:27
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My suggestion is to write all the documentation in HTML pages. Hyperlinks solve the cross-linking of content nicely.
It looks to me like authoring should be divvied up along major content groups. Parts of the contents look like one table is the way to go to document, such as the section on forum colors.
HTML docmentation can easily be put on-line, and compiled to a HTML Help file. You can print entire books or sections from the MSDN library so I'm confident printing the entire help can be accomplished with HTML topic files.
Another day's $000.02
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Doug G
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mbiolsi
Starting Member
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2002 : 10:44:59
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I'm looking over a group of posts that are from October 2000 and nothing has been done. Can I make a few suggestions?
1. Sabre Cat - You are gearing for a "technical manual". Why not write an admin guide that gives all the nitty gritty of the Admin Screens (in English, non-techie!)
2. davemaxwell is geared for a "user guide" whish is also ver much needed. This would have a different feel and flow from the tech manual. THIS is what I need for my web clients.
I have made some posts in the Current Version forum, subject DOCUMNETATION - http://forum.snitz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=21860. I think you are both on the right track.
Also, I think you ca write it in whatever you want, but if you keep it in a format like WORD, which most people have and can use, you have a better chance of getting it off the ground. Word's TOC and formatting features will allow for things to get done quickly once the text has been created. It can then be ported to whatever format/platform you desire. Besides... some people actually LIKE reading printed pages
I have a lot of other ideas, and unfortunately, a great need for documentation. SO...
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mbiolsi
Starting Member
USA
40 Posts |
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Nathan
Help Moderator
USA
7664 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2002 : 18:16:05
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quote:
Also, I think you ca write it in whatever you want, but if you keep it in a format like WORD, which most people have and can use, you have a better chance of getting it off the ground. Word's TOC and formatting features will allow for things to get done quickly once the text has been created. It can then be ported to whatever format/platform you desire. Besides... some people actually LIKE reading printed pages
Dont even consider doing it in word. You must use some format that can be easily crossreferenced and can display on neraly every system with software that is both free and well distributed. HTML is the solution of chioce.
Nathan Bales - Romans 15:13
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Snitz Exchange | Mod Resource< |
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gor
Retired Admin
Netherlands
5511 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2002 : 18:43:14
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quote:
Dont even consider doing it in word. You must use some format that can be easily crossreferenced and can display on neraly every system with software that is both free and well distributed. HTML is the solution of chioce.
Actually it isn't, but it is closer, better is to use XML and something like i.e. Docbook.
See this topic for example.
Pierre
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Nathan
Help Moderator
USA
7664 Posts |
Posted - 01 February 2002 : 21:43:44
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I am familor with XML . . but I cant for the life of me figgure out what that Docbook software does. Or is it even software?
Nathan Bales - Romans 15:13
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Snitz Exchange | Mod Resource< |
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gor
Retired Admin
Netherlands
5511 Posts |
Posted - 02 February 2002 : 03:13:26
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quote:
I am familor with XML . . but I cant for the life of me figgure out what that Docbook software does. Or is it even software?
I started a new topic for it, see here.
Pierre
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Topic |
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First pass at documentation...
Forum Locked
Topic Locked
