Documentation and Websites Report Feb 2006

Documentation

I have been away for approx six of these weeks so not a lot of documentation to report. A new tutorial for a Chinese Input Editor has been compiled by a WFD worker and added to the Documentation site.

Some forms for people receiving computers have been updated.

Silva documentation website complaints

There have been some complaints circulating about the Silva site. However it seems these may refer to the site before it was upgraded in November.  Here's some of the history so people can see where we are now.  I am very interested in problems but need specific details so I can address them.  See below.

There HAD been problems with Computerbank's documentation website for many months. Sorry if any of you got caught up in it.  Our Silva documentation site was upgraded in November. I delayed the upgrade until I had time to perform upgrade tests and get feedback. In an earlier upgrade we lost all our images.  For this upgrade I set up a test server with the latest stable version of Silva and imported a copy of the documentation site.  The existing content was tested, then a series of tests adding new content using Kupu and the XML Forms Editors via Firefox and IE.  The bugs I found I fed back to the Silva developers in Rotterdam they fixed the bugs and released a new version. The same tests were then carried out on the new version. When all was well the live site was upgraded.  All this takes time.

Separation of design and layout from content

Silva's Kupu editor now works well for entering basic pages. It is not a web site editor and should not be compared to Dreamweaver. The css which determines the font face, colours and layout is controlled by the site manager (me).  The separation of design and layout from content is deliberate to keep the look of the site consistent.  Having the layout and design seperated out also frees up the author to concentrate on their content. It also means authors do not have to be html/css experts.

Adding complex content

Cutting and pasting content works best using the XML Forms Editor. The Forms Editor is a good option for people who have some complex content to add and for people who like adding tags to their content. The tags are clearly detailed inside the editor it presumes no prior knowledge. 

To add content via the Forms Editor.
Go to your folder in the  Author's Playpen
Add a new document. 
Add the id (this is file identification for Silva and has no spaces) eg cvi_minutes_june_2000
Add the title (this is eventually seen by the public when the editor approves the page) eg. CVI Minutes 23rd June 2000
Once you've entered the id and title click save and edit
Click on the Forms editor tab
Click on the open arrow and select paragraph insert
Open the page you want to copy.  Copy and paste the content into the paragraph field, don't worry that your content is more than a paragraph.
Click save and exit.
Click preview to view the result, if any tweaking is needed
Go to the  Kupu Editor and make adjustments
Click save and then view the preview.

Bugs adding content?

Have you added any content since November?  I would like to know the details of the problems you or anyone else are experiencing.

It would be helpful to know

• the url
  
• the date
• browser you were using
  
• what sort of content you were entering
• what problems occurred

Plone site

The Plone site is Computerbank's main website.  This has not been updated since the site came online in September 2004.  This has been a deliberate policy.  We don't want to disturb our very kind web hosts and basically the site works as expected.  I have heard that the latest version of Plone is excellent and well worth upgrading to.  I will schedule in testing with a view to upgrading by July this year.