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Hello,

 

I don't want to get bitchy or anything like that, but RC 1 was about 8 weeks ago or so, and there is still very little in the way of documentation. I am really itching to get going on my site, and add some key components (well for me anyway) yet the developer documentation is way out of date with information very thin on the ground. With other newly released e commerce platforms already documented to the hilt its kinda depressing trying to justify spending time on prestashop when so little seems to be happening. I know from the short conversations I have had with Peter that they are in the pipeline but get it out already  ;D Either that or atleast set some up some form of WIKI and let the community write parts of the documentation. this information just has to get out there as soon as possible!

 

/rant

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Did I hear my name? :D

 

Hi guys,

 

I understand and indeed share your frustration at the lack of available documentation, but the release of new documentation has been hindered for several reasons, including the long-delayed unveiling of the new prestashop.com Website. The new Website will feature a whole new Wiki section which I have been putting in place.

 

You are of course free to undertake any documentation efforts of your own. However, if possible, I ask that you please wait just another week or two. On the new site, registered and approved PrestaShop Wiki users (like you two) will be able to participate in building the PrestaShop Documentation Wiki.

 

Of course, if you do begin your own documentation, I would hope that you would copy/paste it into the PrestaShop Wiki when the time comes.  FYI, the markup language of the new Wiki will be Textile.

 

Thanks for your continued patience. :)

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Also, I just thought of this. Not to sound rude or demanding, but I think matters like a wiki / forum and moderation thereof should fall into the hands of the people, not the developers. Not to say that you should not have any say, but I think others would agree when I say that we would rather have you working on Prestashop, not prestashop.com  ;) . You guys already have your hands full!

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Again, anyone is free to create and maintain his or her own PrestaShop-related Website.

 

Many would argue, however, that the most efficient way to provide information to users would not be to have it scattered over several different Websites.

 

As many of you know, it has long been planned to roll out a new PrestaShop.com, which will include not only a much-improved wiki but a better-organized and expanded forum, as well.  The new forum will include entire sections devoted to sharing ideas about the core code, themes/design, and modules, among others.

 

On many software sites, there are separate parts for documentation/user guides, plus a "knowledge base", also a FAQ, in addition to a wiki, not to mention a forum, possibly a bug tracker, and even user blogs, user groups, and other variations.

 

We find that this multi-headed Information Hydra hinders, rather than helps, users find what they're searching for.  On PrestaShop.com, there will simply be a wiki, a forum, and a bug tracker.  (The FAQ and user guides will be included in the wiki.)  The PrestaShop team and the PrestaShop user community will interact on all three.

 

Speaking of interacting, we respectfully disagree that our dev team should devote itself to development and avoid the PrestaShop Forum.  The delays in releasing v1.0 RC3, for example, had nothing to do with time spent on the forum; if anything, dev-team participation on the forum dwindled during the weeks leading up to RC3's release.

 

Au contraire (as the natives say), it is by interacting on the forum that our developers are able to advance on many critical bugs and prioritize which new features to be developed.  For us, it is not a matter of who is in charge of moderating the forum or the wiki, but how to make interacting more efficient and more rewarding for all concerned.

 

To give one example, our current bug-tracking 'system' is to cull errors reported on the forum and then transform them into issues within our internal bug-tracking software. We then update the issues and then (try to) report back on the forum with status updates. Clearly that is a cumbersome method.  We are hoping the new bug tracker will streamline this process.

 

So, again, we hope you will share your knowledge with us on the new PrestaShop.com Website.  Your input would be a valuable asset to the community.  If, however, you should decide to publish your work elsewhere, we would wish you the best of success and would look forward to collaborating with you as best we could. :)

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