Re: Example massacre

[Han-Wen Nienhuys]

address@hidden writes:
> Hi,
> 
> On Wed, 1 Dec 2004, Han-Wen Nienhuys wrote:
> 
> > address@hidden writes:
> > > In know that many of the examples that have been moved have
> > > been incorporated in the manual, but one thing doesn't have to exclude
> > > the other.
> >
> > I think it does. Having both means that people need to look for
> > information in many different places.
> 
> You mean that the authors have to keep both versions up to date? In that

No. I mean that it is a bad idea to distribute information across many
places. The larger our collection of examples becomes, the harder it
is to find things by just browsing the collection. Also, a searching
user is confronted with a choice where to look:

 * manual
 * ML archives
 * tips & tricks
 * regression test

I want to reduce this choice, by making sure that the manual answers
all questions that are answered elsewhere.

Of course, if you know what you're looking for -like Mats, I suppose-
then the tips & tricks collection is an easy document. However, I
think we need to focus on novice users which are not sure what they
are looking for exactly. Also, doesn't a broken up document (like the
manual) work better with Google searching?


-- 

 Han-Wen Nienhuys   |   address@hidden   |   http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanwen