[OpenLayers-Users] OpenLayers Book

[Christopher Schmidt]

On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 03:24:34PM -0000, M.E.Dodd wrote:
> I started off all keen on openlayers tried to put some pages together
> which sort of worked but then have more or less given up due to the lack
> of documentation.  If you want a load of people to use openlayers then
> there does definitely need to be decent documentation or people will get
> fed up and use something else.

I don't think there is a need from the developers for a 'load' of people
to use OpenLayers. If OpenLayers does not meet your needs, then you
should use something else.

I would also say that the mailing list tends to be invaluable for
answering questions that are asked; sometimes, you need to man-up and
ask in front of an audience to get an answe. A quick search on your name
shows me that you asked one question:

  http://openlayers.org/pipermail/users/2008-December/009134.html

Which I responded with a followup, and never heard anything more. If
this is the type of interaction that users attempt, then I'm not
surprised to find out they find getting answers hard. 

There are three major types/sources of information about OpenLayers. In
the order that I expect people will have to go through them in order to
find answers:

 * Documentation
     API Docs, Prose documentation, wikipages

 * Code
     "Sometimes open source means you need to open the source."

 * Mailing List
     Archives first, then sending an email.

These are identified relatively clearly on the
http://trac.openlayers.org/wiki/GettingHelp page, and if you're unable
to follow those steps, then it is unlikely that you will be able to use
OpenLayers effectively. Very few people here are participating in
OpenLayers for a sense of glory: we have jobs which require it,
applications which need it, or projects which use it. 

Open Source is about scratching *developer* -- not 'user' -- itches, and
the notion that "OpenLayers should try to take over all map usage
everywhere" is impractical and not a realistic view of the desires of
the developers, so far as I am aware.  For the most part, we just write
software; if people are interested in using it, more power to them. 

Regards,
-- 
Christopher Schmidt
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