Readme Files Survey

[Akkarin]

The html readme files has been in the svn since forever, but I'm trying to gauge how many users actually use them.

This survey is designed to gather that information, then we can discuss what to do. I would appreciate it if everyone could select the option that closely reflects their own opinion.

[Mystery]

Since really I should put myself in new peoples shoes.. I just know that when I first started eA (since it's where we began practically) I've never ever bothered with that file.. I personally thought it was just some other random help file that I didn't wanna read :<. I always used eA's wiki and the search functions on the forums. Or if anything, there was information in the documentation folder that if we needed help, we'd read as well.

If anything, why not move (whatever is left over from that html) into the Wiki that's needed? Since really.. I think a lot of people focus on the wiki more =/

[Euphy]

They'd be useful if they contained more information, particularly regarding installation.

[Emistry]

well...i discovered that file after 2 years i using eAthena .... LOL.....and i dont even know how to run a HTML file that time...

when i open with notepad...all HTML TAG inside....@.@ ( i am like "Wtf is this...?" ) hahahaa

[Akkarin]

Lots of users viewing, but not alot of voting! Come on people, let me know your opinions

[Maki]

...There's html files in SVN?

[Emistry]

...There's html files in SVN?

yes maki...xD

trunk/readme.html

[Akkarin]

...There's html files in SVN?

*headdesk*

[Mystery]

...There's html files in SVN?

*headdesk*

He has the right idea though.. I bet not a lot of people even know about those htmls.. *facepalm*.

[Akkarin]

To be fair, when i first svn co'd eAthena i never noticed them until about a year later.

Personally, i think they're nice to have.. but we have a perfectly good wiki and a /doc/ directory that explains everything in greater detail.

22 different viewers and only 10 votes. All you need to do is select one

[Brian]

I voted for "Sometimes, but there should be more info in them".

[Akkarin]

I voted for "Sometimes, but there should be more info in them".

Is that a hint

[Brian]

I was one of the 14 / 27 who visited the topic AND voted

Sure, that can be a suggestion: since they are in the SVN, let's make them more useful.

hmm instead of maintaining documentation in 2 places (Readme HTML and Wiki), could we just put links in the Readme that point to wiki pages? (all those Installation & Setup guides, Category:Script_Commands, etc.)

Or, if the purpose of HTML Readme files in the SVN is so they have something to read offline, what if we take those guides and export them to HTML and just update them in the SVN like once a month?

[Euphy]

what if we take those guides and export them to HTML and just update them in the SVN like once a month?

I like this idea.

[Realusion]

I'd say get rid of them. They're way out of date and would take time to update them. I'd say we put that time and invest it in the wiki or other documentation.

This.

No need to bloat the SVN when there's the opportunity to have a perfectly fine documentation on the Wiki.

[Euphy]

I'd say get rid of them. They're way out of date and would take time to update them. I'd say we put that time and invest it in the wiki or other documentation.

There are plenty of reasons to have offline copies to work with, though (ex. on a laptop without wifi, or if the wiki is ever offline). The files aren't out of date; there just isn't much information in them. It's no big deal to update them once a month.

[Lemongrass]

i would love a "parseable" format for some of the doc files. Which would also give the possibility to update the html files as often as you like, but not only that, it could even grant custom tools the possibility to read these information(for example a script editor with auto completion for script commands).

as for the html files i must admit that i have never used them since for me the did not provide sufficient information. i like the idea of storing some of the most important guides into these files though.

[Akkarin]

I'm inclined to rm -rf them with the exception of an installation guide. That's really the only thing I'd expect to see - not a link to a page that loads other offline files in iframes. All the other information in them is already in files accessible offline. I'll sort something out and put this to bed before the end of next weekend.

[Euphy]

If you were to remove the "readme" directory, the installation guides (and other guides?) could simply be added into "doc". They'd be more visible that way, in any case.

[Wolfeh]

I mostly just use item_bonus and script_commands, I never noticed the pccommand_list before but that will be helpful to me in the future. But I do usually look at the wiki, I haven't used those files in forever, but mostly just because I haven't been adding new items or experimenting with scripting, but they are useful for offline use. When I was adding custom items to my item_db it was without internet and with those text files to help me. I agree they also need to be updated.

OH, WAIT, HTML FILES. No, I say get rid of them, if you are a newbie you should have internet access and thus can learn all you want here on the forums or the wiki. They are too basic and I could only see them being used by those who are really new. Even if there was more added to them I think the wiki or text files/documentation would be more helpful... If it is decided to keep them then I recommend renaming the folder to something else like "For Beginners" so people will look at them. In my newbie days I didn't even know what a "readme" was (yes, even though it says readme, it was just a file) and even now don't read many unless I am new to whatever I am doing, now I know what a readme is so I can use them, lol.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Wolfeh

[Winz]

The design is good, otherwise honestly, 5 secs ago was my first time opening readme.html of rAthena's (sorry, I may disappoint you). I appreciate the codes there. otherwise, somehow, I got my eyes jumped and skipped some words (eehh, no, not that.) I guess it's better if you separate each explanations. they're.. umm too sticky to each another that makes my eyes well,you know. hahahha

also, this one:

trunk/readme/scripting.html

map_name,x_cord,y_cord,npc_facing_direction -TAB- script -TAB- NPC Name#HiddenName -TAB- Sprite ID,{

there, the yellow colored text, it's too bright (and also the light green one). They are a kind of similar..

That's my suggestion for now I guess. Oh I forgot, even the ‘courier' text seems better (it's like a real programmer when you seeing that, bro), somehow I don't feel comfortable if the font is being used in HTML. If in Notepad, it's fine for me, since I'm used to read inside notepad.

Well, I don't know, maybe it's only me who is like that.

2 user(s) are reading this topic

1 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

Winz, Facebook

Who is Facebook??? and who is the other 1 user that is reading this topic?????

Edited October 17, 2012 by Winz

[Brian]

"Facebook" is Facebook's crawler bot.

You can tell the bots from Members because bots' names are not links.

[Akkarin]

Unfortunately my time has been diverted a little towards IRL over the last few weeks (for several reasons) and I didn't get around to doing anything with this.

I'll make a decision at 00:00 on Thursday (UTC) and commit changes that reflects this topic's poll - I think it's been open long enough and it's time to put this to bed

[Akkarin]

Readme files changed in r16976.

Removed html version and created a .txt version with similarly helpful information. For users on *nix distros who don't know how to use the lynx application, changing the file to a text format provides a better way of enabling those users to view it. Windows users double-click as normal.

I'll produce a new poll after a number of weeks to see if this change has had much impact, other than reducing the SVN size by ~600kb (it was a large image!) which was my drive behind this change.