another Re: writing spk howto (?) (again)

[Sean McMahon]

>From the markings, > symbols, I can't tell where your message is and which part
you're quoting.  It looks like your part of this message isn't showing up.  btw,
this message did get through.
Sean
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Bruzos" <david at bruzos.org>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 10:15 AM
Subject: Re: another Re: writing spk howto (?) (again)


> I am sending this one again, because of the same reason as the other one...
> It was too large the first time...
>
>
> > Hello again:
> > I have read everyone's posts and I think that everyone has and makes very
> > valid points.  I don't plan to start writing the howto until I gather some
> > more info and test some things my self.
> >
> > Yes, writing technical docs is hard and time consuming, but I will give it
> > a try...  I think it will be alright.
> >
> > I have been thinking about the document and how it should be focused.  I
> > like the distribution specific approach while maintaining enough
> > generality to be useful in other distributions.  For example, writing the
> > howto for FC2 and including some necessary information for other distros,
> > but not cluttering the document with references to too many unrelated
> > topics.  The reason for my approach is that I am a newbie (as I said
> > before)  and I have fresh in my mind all the many frustrating hours
> > searching through tons of general documentation that I could not
> > understand nor use.  So, I want to safe the next newbie some time and give
> > them a set of simple instructions that I know will work for sure.  Advance
> > users can read the FC2 instructions and apply them to whatever they use,
> > but beginners can't go the other way.
> >
> > Another problem is that I don't have experience with other distributions,
> > so writing something about them would be pure speculation.  What can be
> > done is generate a set of documents that would cover the main distros, but
> > that would require someone other than me to work on them.  Again, I think
> > the distro centric approach with the necessary additional info about other
> > distros is probably the best compromise between generality and
> > practicality...
> >
> > Thank everyone so much for responding so wonderfully to my post yesterday.
> > If I don't respond to everyone's posts, I am sorry, but I would be saying
> > the same stuff over and over...  I read every post though, so everyone's
> > help is great.
> >
> > Thomas, I will be checking out your Speakup howto and hopefully
> > contributing the software speech to it...
> > Oh, Janina's FC2 installation howto is great and yes, maybe the URL should
> > be a little more user friendly!
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Janina Sajka" <janina at rednote.net>
> > To: <david at bruzos.org>; "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."
> > <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 8:18 AM
> > Subject: Re: writing spk howto (?)
> >
> >
> >> Absolutely, you should do a Speakup with Software Speech HOWTO. The
> >> community needs one desparately, and there aren't enough of us document
> >> writers to go around.
> >>
> >> In all honesty, I must tell you that writing a clear, concise, and
> >> complete HOWTO is hard work. I don't say this to discourage you, but to
> >> point out that there's a reason why more HOWTOs aren't just out there to
> >> be plucked off the net. My advice is to start simple, and Speakup With
> >> Software Speech sounds to me like about the right task.
> >>
> >> I will tell you that I attempted to write a HOWTO for Speakup on Linux
> >> together with a professional tech writer from IBM. When the tech writer
> >> left IBM this project stalled--after over 6 months of work between us.
> >> That's when I took the pieces that I actually knew something about and
> >> created the Installation HOWTO for the Speakup Modified Fedora Core.
> >>
> >> Which reminds me, writing a HOWTO is only part of the job. The rest of
> >> the job is maintaining the HOWTO which means making new versions when
> >> new facts change the advice people need to have.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
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