[mapserver-dev] Feedback required: plans for Downloadable Users Manual

[Stephen Woodbridge]

Jeff,

When I read this I thought it was a great idea. You seem to have 
captured the essentials in your outline. Along the same idea that Steve 
has suggested of having samples. I think it would be great to also 
include a complete production sample mapfile like Bob Basques Googlish 
mapfile maybe in an annotated form or maybe you have your own mapfile 
that would work. This might be as an appendix. The reason for this is 
because snippets are great to explain this or that feature without 
getting distracted by all the details, but they sometimes loose more 
global context. Ultimately we are supposed to be teach people to be able 
to build a production mapfile so having one, will set an expectation of 
what they should be thinking about when creating one. I have no idea if 
Bob would be interested in contributing it for this, but giving a 
complex real world reference can be handy and it it was published with 
line numbers then it would be easy to refer to a block of lines in your 
text when discussing a concept.

So if you take all these ideas :) you will be writing the Mapserver 
Encyclopedia.

-Steve W

Steve Lime wrote:
> I like the outline. I think the emphasis should be strong in the area of configuration
> of an application and data.  Those topics are mostly platform agnostic and don't change
> that much, so the document would be more stable and useful for everyone. I can't see
> wasting a bunch of time with installation discussion- the focus should be on "use".
> 
> We need to chat about the demo I'm supposed to work up. I'm leaning towards a host
> of snippets that could be references in tutorials, how-to's and reference guides. For example,
> you'd have an application that just focuses on labeling parameters, another on scale(denom)
> and yet another on symbology. My guess is between msautotest, DNR test suite, Perry's
> tutorial, and the OWS workshop materials there's plenty of content. Would be nice
> to hook the manual to it as well. Perhaps the code examples good be drawn directly from
> it.
> 
> Steve
> 
>>>> Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at dmsolutions.ca> 03/24/08 3:40 PM >>>
> Hello dev team,
> 
> I about to dive into some funded work to create a MapServer 
> 'downloadable user's manual', to be in pdf format.  I am thinking of 
> making a glossy version of the great work already done by David Fawcett 
> and Perry in the New Users manual and the MapServer 5.0 Tutorial 
> respectively, and of course pointing to the existing howtos/references. 
>    Below are some topics for the table of contents, please let me know 
> if you think something is missing or if I should change my focus.
> 
> Table of Contents
> -----------------
> 
> Introduction
> Getting Started
>    - Installing
>    - Architecture of MapServer
> Preparing Data
>    - The .Map File
>    - Supported Formats
>    - Tips and Tricks
>    - Factors Affecting Performance
> Building a MapServer Application
>    - Flavors
>    - Example Code
> Community
>    - History of MapServer
>    - Project Steering Committee
>    - Contributing
>    - Getting Help
>    - Conferences/Workshops
> Glossary
> 
> 
> --
> jeff
> 
> 
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