[Nix-dev] NixOS wiki

[Domen Kožar]

> So start with RTFM:
> https://nixos.org/wiki/Main_Page
> -> "How to contribute to the nix wiki" (keep top)
> -> "how to get an account"
> which says:
> quote "due to spam reasons you have to ask on the mailinglist"
> If this fails at least two times, I join your party.
>
> So do that and see whether it works, then complain :)
> You're welcome with helping, but in order to provide good
> documentation, RTFM is the first step, I'm afraid.
>

I missed that and I invested quite some time to figure out how to register.
The confusing part is
that page https://nixos.org/w/index.php?title=Special:UserLogin says you
can register here.

I would say this is a clear sign we are losing a big percentage of
potencial users.


> The SPAM issue was picked up by people being responsible in reasonable
> time, and they took action - what else do you want?
>

Maybe redirecting register link should redirect to "contributing to wiki"
section.

What about more user friendly register form with confirmation email?



> I personally want UTF-8 support:
> How to reproduce?
> Add "Lluís" this to an article, then hit the "preview" button.
>
> > - clean UI for non-technical users
> Maybe we need two wikis then? Try describing how you'd change the UI so
> that everybody "technical" understands what you're talking about.
>

Current wiki satisfies this, I'm just saying if we decide to switch to
something else.


>
> > - some offline editing support (git)?
> we talked about it - and we agree that there are ways - but also pay
> attention to what Eelco said: He fears that the quality of the contents
> of the wiki is not that great. So eventually start with telling us what
> you would add, and why it is not possible or too much work to do it with
> the current wiki.
>

I think having offline editing support has 0 correlation to organization of
content - that's the next step to solve. Offline support is great for
writing documentation on train.


>
> > - markdown formatting support (for reasons that it's wide spread and most
> > simple to explain)
> As I said earlier: What do you need to be succesful with a wiki?
>   - headlines
>   - code blocks
>   - links
> Should be reasonably easiy to learn this using any wiki fast.
>

I disagree - having low barier for contributors is a key thing for
documentation. I have seen that
in practice in past years and it's one of key reasons Gentoo wiki is a
community success.


>
> > PS: I have imported current wiki into github wiki, but it lacks
> > categorization and search:
> https://github.com/iElectric/nixos/wiki/_pages
> First talk to the community, then wait 1-2 weeks, then take action -
> otherwise your effort may not be adopted.
> So talk about the contents you want to provide, and tell the community
> why you think git will be so much faster than copying an article into
> your editor of choice, editing it, copying it back and press the "save"
> button.


Just wanted to point out a failed experiment. The community part is current
conversation, trying to figure out that part and how can I give a hand.

So to boost productivity, can someone add me to wiki? Email: domen at dev.si

Domen
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