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Bug #5069

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The ability to create user manuals from a wiki that is continuously updated.

Added by David Welker over 13 years ago. Updated over 13 years ago.

Status:
New
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
general
Target version:
Start date:
06/30/2010
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Estimated time:
Bugzilla-Id:
5069

Description

(5) The ability to create user manuals from a wiki that is continuously updated.

Currently, our user manual is produced from a document in the Microsoft Word document. This makes it inconvenient to update a version of the manual that reflects the most recent versions. As a result, the manual tends to be updated all at once during a release and probably is not as good as it could otherwise be. Also, being able to read the manual off the web and not just in PDF format would be very convenient for users as well.


Related issues

Blocked by Kepler - Bug #5064: Kepler 2.1 Tracking BugNewDavid Welker06/30/2010

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Actions #1

Updated by Christopher Brooks over 13 years ago

I agree that making it easier for developers to update documentation is an
excellent goal. However, it is fairly difficult to do and requires quite
a bit of effort.

I'm not so sure wiki pages are the right solution because wiki pages heavily
hyperlinked and dependent on being on-line. Edward Lee is working on a system
that uses LaTeX to generate pdfs that are suitable for printing or for viewing
on a computer. The computer viewable pdfs have links to JNLP versions of
Ptolemy models. There are likely other online systems that generate printable
files and on-line files.

Moving away from Word to LaTeX or anything else would be preferred. A review
of what's out there would be a good start.

To close this feature request, we would need a system that would generate
something like the current Kepler printed documentation. Such a system
should be easy for developers to use. Ideally, it would use pre-existing
software as opposed to being developed in-house.

I'm marking this as an enhancement and estimating 200 hours, feel free
to change.

Actions #2

Updated by Matt Jones over 13 years ago

LT discussion: this is important, should probably be in a more standard markup like LaTeX or RST, and we can generate wiki content from that (rather than the other way around).

Actions #3

Updated by ben leinfelder over 13 years ago

1 vote for LaTex:
Jim Regetz and I converted the Morpho user guide from Word to LaTex - seems much more manageable than the Word version. We've not looked into generating online materials (other than a PDF).

Actions #4

Updated by Redmine Admin almost 11 years ago

Original Bugzilla ID was 5069

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