[syslinux] hello world

[Ray Andrews]

On 02/01/2015 08:12 PM, Ady via Syslinux wrote:


Ady,

Thanks for that:

"So, the intention of this email is not to reject nor disregard the
provided feedback. It _will_ be considered."

... it's all that can be expected.  And it's natural for you to defend 
the status-quo.  It must not become a contest.  However, once one has 
become expert in something one most often forgets what it was like not 
to know.  The expert can not help but be what he is when writing a doc.  
IMHO every doc needs to be vetted by raw noobs so that they can say what 
only they can say, which is whether the doc was helpful to *them*.  It's 
the only time when the opinion of the aggregate of noobs should trump 
the opinion of the experts.

> FWIW, most wiki pages I have mentioned in this email thread were 
> written targeting common users. For example the "Library modules" wiki 
> page uses language and terms for common users, and it includes the 
> "whys" and the "wheres". 


Sure, so let the common user let you know if you've hit the nail on the 
head.
> Instead of repeating information in several places (which makes it 
> much harder to maintain), links were added, pages were classified into 
> wiki Categories, and pages such as "Common Problems" and "Hardware 
> Compatibility" were expanded. 

Right. The trick is either make pages standalone, or somehow crosslink 
them in some way that makes it easy to know if you are reading specific 
or general information.  So long as it is clear.
> Therefore, as I said, there is no way to simultaneously satisfy all 
> these types of readers. It requires a balance. 

Yes, quite true.  I have no more weight in my feedback than anyone else, 
but I give it FWIW.
> For example, the "Library modules" wiki page might seem too-long for 
> some readers, and not enough for others. 

Myself I've always liked a 'quickstart' page, for people who just want 
to get going, or who already have an understanding of basic things.  
Then the main text with footnotes that go off into deep details.  The 
wiki is as good as normal.  The only place I know where excellence is 
almost always achieved is in the Arch docs. Nuts, I run Debian, but I go 
to Arch for answers.