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<p>hi mick, & everyone :)</p>
<p>we are still using UpStage v3 & still using the manual, even
though it's out of date & i simply have no time to update it
... we are now (slowly!) working on a complete rebuild of the
platform, which is going to result in the need for a completely
new manual, but until we are much further along with that we
aren't ready to start the manual. (in case anyone on this list is
interested, see <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://upstage.org.nz/">https://upstage.org.nz/</a> and
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/upstage-org/limelight">https://github.com/upstage-org/limelight</a>)<br>
</p>
<p>this chapter is an important one to have in the manual, right up
front. for me i would say that the two most important reasons for
using FM have been around remote collaboration - since our
community are all over the world, it's important to have one
central editable repository for the manual that multiple people
can easily access and edit. & the other is accessibiliity -
it's easy to share the link, to download as pdf or print out for
workshop situations, & generally easy for complete newbies to
find the information they need in the manual. in this respect it's
better than wikis, which are not so easy to print out sections
from (in my experience) & can sometimes be off-putting to less
geeky people, for both reading & editing.<br>
</p>
<p>other than that, the community around FM is important for me as
an editor; being able to ask questions & get support &
importantly to be involved in the platform itself - owning our
tools is important for me, & as awareness grows around the
politics of tech giants i hope this will be important for more
people out there.</p>
<p>h : )<br>
</p>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:832f4c13-af2e-e4e6-9c3b-3eceedb0463b@flossmanuals.net"><br>
<div class="moz-forward-container"> Hi there,<br>
<br>
For the FLOSS Manual Manual update, It would be great to get
people's<br>
experiences of when a platform like BookType that FM uses is the
best<br>
option for an individual to use for documentation, and when
other tools<br>
are a better fit.<br>
<br>
Times have changed and when Adam Hyde FM started there was
really<br>
nothing out there like it in terms of flexibility and ease of
use for<br>
documentation. Now there are quite a few alternatives.<br>
<br>
* <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://readthedocs.org/" moz-do-not-send="true">https://readthedocs.org/</a>
(in combination with <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/_" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.sphinx-doc.org/_</a><br>
* git books - and git pages - <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.gitbook.com/" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.gitbook.com/</a><br>
* some kind of static site generator using Jamstack / Hugo /
Jekyll or<br>
similar using mark-up source files<br>
* other solutions<br>
<br>
I'd be interested to know if people on this list who used to use
FLOSS<br>
Manuals but now use something else would like to comment on the
pros and<br>
cos. The purpose is to write a chapter that helps people
evaluate if FM<br>
is the right place for them. Some of the factors might be...<br>
<br>
* ease of use, pros and cos of using WYSIWYG<br>
* limits to version control<br>
* translations<br>
* issues around communities and particular needs / expectations<br>
<br>
One thing, it would be great not to focus on past / current
issues of<br>
using BookType. If you have bug reports or feature requests it
would be<br>
great to put them here instead.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://gitlab.com/flossmanuals/fm_booktype"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://gitlab.com/flossmanuals/fm_booktype</a><br>
<br>
But even if there's an overlap, then please chip in!<br>
<br>
nice one!<br>
<br>
Mick<br>
<br>
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href="http://lists.flossmanuals.net/listinfo.cgi/discuss-flossmanuals.net"
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</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p>helen varley jamieson<br>
</p>
<p> <a href="mailto:helen@creative-catalyst.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">helen@creative-catalyst.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.creative-catalyst.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.creative-catalyst.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.upstage.org.nz" moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.upstage.org.nz</a></p>
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