Docs Project Structure?

[Griff 5watt]

I just recently got involved in the Docs Project and while getting my head
into it all, I had a few thoughts.  Please let me know if I am missing
something.

I read through the information in the wiki and did not see anywhere an
explicit mission statement about the Docs Project.  Specifically what I was
looking for was information as to who the documentation was geared for.  The
'Documentation' link on the front page of the Fedora Project wiki brings up
an unclear picture of the documentation as well.  The designation between
the target audiences is not clearly defined, flowing from [End User]
Published Documents and Draft Documents right into New Contributors and
Developers.

>From what I have seen, there are three major categories that documentation
falls under.  1) The End User [defined below]; 2) The Developer; 3) Other
contributors.

For me, the End User is the person looking to install and use Fedora
Linux.  This person may be a home user doing email and watching videos on
the web; or the office worker doing email, documents and spreadsheets; or
the administrator supporting the office worker; or the web developer who is
doing their work on Linux.  [+1]


Those who are involved in the development of Fedora Linux or contribute in
other ways are separate from the End User.  There was some talk at FUDCon
about dividing the front page into three sections... End User, Contributor,
Developer.  Documentation should follow this division as well.

If the real focus currently is the End User, then the main documents
required are:

- The Installation Guide (How do I get Fedora Linux onto my machine?)
[available on fedora.redhat.com/docs/]
- The Desktop Users Guide (Now, what can I do with this default install?)
[available from the fedoraproject.org wiki]
- System Maintenance (How can I keep it running well?) [not available?]
- Software Installation (How can I get more applications that will hose my
system?) [available? from fedora.redhat.com/docs/ 'Managing Software with
YUM']
- and Support (What do I do to solve my problem?) [not available?] [+2]

Are there documents for Maintenance and Support?

Anyway, I am going to get back to reading what is currently out there and
try to be a constructive member of the group.

------------------------
1) I expect that our sponsor would prefer that the Office Worker, Developer
and the Administrator end-users would be using RHEL rather than Fedora
Linux, otherwise they would be eager for Fedora to provide a server spin,
thereby negating the need for the Fedora Project to handle this
documentation.  However, if Fedora is truly to provide the base for RHEL,
then this would include documentation for these users.  This requires more
direction from the appropriate people.  This leaves us with the Home User.

2) In my view this document would start out with a brief list of those tools
that would be helpful in trouble shooting problems, and how to use
them.  Then a list of external sites would be provided that would allow the
user to research their individual issue on their own, i.e. fedoraforum.org,
linuxforums.org, and linuxquestions.org.

-- 
Aaron Bowman, Fedora Docs Wannabe
gpg fingerprint: 2DD4 471F 12F4 FB93 986F  2B41 17DB 3139 CBF6 2385
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