Help making CHDK and the forum better

[intrnst]

[intrnst]

I think more would get accomplished overall if there was a special "wiki editing unit" here. (Of course, I nominate you to head that, intrnst! lol)

Kitty, don't you think that now I'll chicken out!
I have a background already...

Very true. The sad thing is that CHDK wikia has a lot of colaborators and almost none coordinator.

Heh. And I feel sorry for whoever takes that job on. There is a lot of info to be organized

Maybe again you get right to the point. Luckily I'm disqualified enough for such task.

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BTW: Firmware Version section added.

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Edited:
Could you dare write that bracketing section in the page?
Worst scenario, it will be used in another place. Your credits, always.

[Psychokitty]

Could you dare write that bracketing section in the page?
Worst scenario, it will be used in another place. Your credits, always.

You mean for the DOF stacking?
Sure.

So, am I right or maybe I should put these efforts on the already stablish wikia structure?
To change (a bit) or not to change, that's the question right now - I think.

Could somebody kindly answer it?

Well sure;
I've always thought the wiki pages were a bit over the top of my head when I first started messing around with CHDK. They're written by people well versed in CHDK as well as photography, and let's face it, most people with a P&S camera don't know the first thing about photography!
I believe that your efforts are just the type needed to make best use of the existing wiki as a foundation upon which to build to a much more user-friendly and inviting level.
At the same time, I warn you, that whichever you choose to do, be it to build upon the existing material or to start fresh in the creation of a preface "flowchart for dummies" (no disrespect to the "dummies" , you will NOT STOP many of these people from asking repetitive questions. These are the very same people of the type that no matter how simplified that step-by-step poster is in the box with a new toaster, they still miss something and feverishly thumb through the "real" manual searching for a non-technical answer to their question.

...Then, alas, there is that technical support phone number on the last page. (People really do call that number!)

I guess my point is this:
While your efforts are sorely needed to update the wiki and make it more user/noob friendly, please don't expect the redundant questions to miraculously stop. You can lay out in perfect display all the information you could possibly share on this at their feet, free for the taking, but you can't force people to be smart enough or take the initiative to actually read and comprehend it. 

Also, while you write the preface, perhaps you can keep in mind Graystar's CHDK manual.

[intrnst]

If I had just ask you to marry me and you answered me like this, now I would be actually wondering if you certainly did or you ever wanna see me again.

OK, I'm perfectly aware about the dumbness of the newbies (no offense) - these nasty creatures! But being one of them I realize the objective of PhyrePhoX's request. Then, I gave it a shoot. I have nothing to lose.

As almost everyone, I'm happily surprised with Graystar's CHDK manual, it's a great effort and he is going well in his job. But, until now, is an individual effort and I dream about an integrated DEV, CODER, SCRIPTER, PHOTO EXPERT, ADV USER, well structured, online, for newbies too, solution.

Dreamers...

Anyway, thanks again for spent your time to think about our childr... newbies.


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PS: I hope you have fun making the DOF section. I know it will be super.

[adcz]

Also posted this in the suggested features/poll thread, but I suppose it fits in here too...somewhat

Hmm... I think somebody should write a php script w/mysql database to manage this...

Would be something like

Main (Features) Database)
| ID | Name | Description | Status (The Color) | Priority | Maintainer | Rating | Link | Suggested By (user) | Datestamp | <whatever other properties you want to give it>

Comments Database
| ID | FID (Feature ID)  | User | Topic | Comment | TimeStamp |

for the columns. It will have a simple login (accessing the smf user db perhaps, although there might be problem with passwords Tongue). Then users will be faced with a form where they select the priority, status, and type in name, description, maintainer, optional link, whatever. It will be posted to the database, later on it can be displayed/sorted to the user. Then users can rate the feature (1 - 10), and comment on it. Would work much better than a forum by my opinion? What do you think?

I can probably create this script if you want, and you can skin it/tweak it/whatever. Give me your input.


[edit] - ALSO, you can add a Category option There could be a few levels such as CAMERA/Raw Features/Compression or GENERAL/Installation/CardTricks...you know that sort of thing...tell me what you think

[intrnst]

Man, we need a dozen more like you around!

The thing is, I'm only a very little fish here. I am just giving my 2 cents back to the CHDK account and enjoying the view. But, following the thread you mention, seems to me that the devs already decided the way they'll do all.
Looks like that you are a young man, full of energy, with some programmer skills and I feel very sorry I have no "job" for you here. The work in this thread is for secretaries. We select, organize and catalog what has been done by others. But if you want to deposit your coin too, my suggestion goes for you to walk around in the forum. Follow some threads until you feel you fit in some place.
It's really a shame we cannot use your energy here. Or maybe you're smart enough to show us how.

Anyway, welcome and enjoy.
Stay well, adcz!

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Edited: link missed.

[PhyrePhoX]

@PhyrePhoX
I notice you're very busy right now, but if you get some time to fell if this is going to somewhere, please, tell me, do a criticism, make a tss tss... whatever.
Thanks anyway.

sorry, was away a few days and only could browse the forum via cellphone. while browsing it is fun with a cellphone, posting things certainly aint
thanks for your contributions to the wiki & the forums lately (of course thanks to the other guys as well), i really like it. i know it is a tedious task, but please keep up the good work
i dont know what to improve, but then again i am not a noob anymore perhaps linking graystars guide (like already suggested) is a really good idea. perhaps his guide can be re-converted to html or something and to be put in the wiki (at least the parts that are in final shape and are not bound to be changed soon, for example explanation of histogram and screenshots and the like).

[intrnst]

Hi, PhyrePhoX. Hope you had a good trip.
The Graystar's manual was kinda lost in the middle of other topics. I already relocate it to a better place.
After I complete the page moving process, I'll invite him to collaborate at the "public" page.

Thanks for the tips!

[PhyrePhoX]

i reorganized some of the sticky threads, unstickied a few and created a few new ones. any comments? what else should be done regarding the stickies? there are too many of them, that i know, but imo all of them are stickified for a good reason.

[73113]

First of all, great effort! It must be hard work to keep so much information accessible.
Looking at the dates in this thread I sure hope that you haven't given up, it's been a while since people posted here..
Anyway I just wanted to suggest making the link to the wiki on the forum homepage continuous. Right now when other messages blink on that spot you can easily miss it.

[edified]

I'll start by saying cheers and thanks for all the work that's gone into these releases!  Amazing.

As long as you're asking for criticism here's a few ideas:

1. Clean up documentation and downloads BIG TIME.  There's loads of old stuff all over scattered over different servers with conflicting and outdated information.  I'd be MORE THAN HAPPY to buy a domain and pay for hosting for an official CHDK site that hosts everything in one official place.

The forums should be integrated into a complete site that has up to date information, downloads and resources- have a look at wordpress.org or zenphoto.org.  If you insist on keeping old data around, please please please mark it deprecated with a link to  updated info.

Ok actually that's about it.  Just clean up old stuff or mark it old with a link and give the site real structure.

Cheers, Ed

[PhyrePhoX]

thanks for the constructive criticism.
however i have to inform you that this is a wiki you are talking about, and a wiki has among other things at least one big feature which distinguishes it so niceley from corporate websites: everybody can alter, add & remove information. everybody. including you
so next time you browse through the wiki and see all the old stuff, please mark it as old. maybe a more experienced wiki-member will "tidy it up".
it's like this: the people who develop chdk sometimes don't speak english so well. sometimes they just dont wanna edit a wiki, because they put all the efforts and sweat into the code before. sometimes developers dont think documentation is needed.
while most people cannot develop code for such a project, it should be very easy writing documentation or cleaning up the wiki.

[PhyrePhoX]

i started "cleaning" up the wiki. it really is a tedius task.
what we need:
- no more 3 different manuals
- no more 20 different builds etc
- short and precise "navigation" for newbies AND "professionals" alike, so everybody can find out what it's all about and experience the CHDK experience.
- languages

please don't just delete old pages, rename them or move them somewhere else, so that they can still be accessed if need be (i did this with the Legacy - CHDK Wiki legacy builds, i moved them from the download page to this new page and linked them from there for example).

the wiki frontpage needs to be "clean", with no misleading links and descriptions. this also means that we "delete" references to the old builds (dont delete, move somewhere else) like allbest etc. The project has matured, and instead of a project of a thousand builds we only have 1 left now

there is more to it, but i cant remember everything i had on my mind today

edit: we should start cleaning/rewriting/moving stuff from this site Most visited pages - CHDK Wiki like the first 10 to 20 pages. should be no big deal, if its not one person alone doing all the work...

[PhyrePhoX]

started major rewrite and moving stuff that is old and outdated. the main wiki was heavily modified, however i failed to remove the links from the links section at the bottom - everytime i did it, i messed up the whole layout. somebody else has gotta do it (mind you, i already created the links page, so you only need to delete the links from the main page (of course do not delete the link to the link page ))
anyhows, will be off for the weekend.

edit: oh btw, the readme files in the autobuild also need a major rewrite and update. suggestions? put em here please.

[lrossel]

edit: oh btw, the readme files in the autobuild also need a major rewrite and update. suggestions? put em here please.

Do we need a user manual in a txt file?

I can star it right away, compiling the information all over the wiki pages (firmware usage, Allbest, and morebest)