Originally posted by Maximilian Stocker:
1) It would be swell to have a talk page or something so that you could see who is editing and why. There is a recent changes page but it is not very informative and at least for me every change appears to have been done by localhost so that doesn't really say anything.
I have been working specifically today on the JDBC FAQ. I have added a few things and I am expanding a few existing ones. But how would someone know why I have made any changes that I have? Or even (besides me saying here) that I have done so?
There seem to be two styles. On most of the pages each question or topic is listed as just another entry. On the JDBC FAQ page the questions and answers are all listed on that page but there are some other site references and links to expanded explanations where this is suitable.
Personally I prefer the second style but at any rate I am not sure what people here feel about styles or more to the point where this kind of thing should be discussed. I do think that a more consistent style will make a better overall FAQ.
I guess my goal would be to make the best Java FAQ on the net.
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way. - Heraclitus
Yes, there are some things that could work better. *Some* of those things could be fixed by installing a newer version of Friki, but the last time I tried, I failed for reasons I don't understand.
Well, it *is* possible to look at the history of a page. The other features you describe could be nice, but I don't think they are really vital. In the end, it seems to be much less important to me to see who did what why, than to simply see the current state of a page.
I'm not sure about this one. Personally, I don't like long pages, especially not in wikis. So, if the answer to a question is longer than just a simple sentence, I'll typically prefer it to be on its own page.
Well, I certainly wouldn't object to it becoming the best Java FAQ on the net, but frankly that sounds like *a lot* of work.
Originally posted by Maximilian Stocker:
I would like to hear some other opinions on this. The JDBC one again seems different than most. And while I prefer it I think it would be better to be the same as the others. But I don't know what the history of the page is (in terms of why it is set up that way) so hopefully Jeanne or Bear or whoever did that one can provide some comment on this
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way. - Heraclitus
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Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
Hi Max,
Have you read much of The Original Wiki? This first Wiki (on the topic of design patterns and agile methodologies) often uses a sort of "conversation" style, where a paragraph is often followed by someone else's disagreeing paragraph, often in italics to set it off as a comment. People generally sign their comments. I like that approach, because it helps you to see all sides of a debate. Go have a look at that, and then c'mon back here and use that style in our FAQ, if you like.
Originally posted by Jeanne Boyarsky:
The JDBC FAQ preceeded my moderating that forum, although I have added to it. I think it was just evolved that way though. The first few entries are pretty short. And after that, people (myself included) just used that style. You are certainly welcome to change it.
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 5: paper version from Amazon, PDF from Apress, Online reference: Books 24x7 Personal blog
[OCP 17 book] | [OCP 11 book] | [OCA 8 book] [OCP 8 book] [Practice tests book] [Blog] [JavaRanch FAQ] [How To Ask Questions] [Book Promos]
Other Certs: SCEA Part 1, Part 2 & 3, Core Spring 3, TOGAF part 1 and part 2
I agree. Here's the link: http://javaranch.com/programming-pearls.jsp |