Documentation

[Harry page]

Hi


Charge for my video's   , dam knew I missed something     

Just thinking about the wiki thing , how is it controlled as we do not want misleading info on there ( However well ment )

Regards Harry

P.s.  I like being called Avid , but stand no chance having a APOD

[Carlos Milovic]

Well, the best way to control the data in the wiki would be:
- Some PTeam members become administrators: this means, they get permissions to edit, post, change categories, etc etc etc. As "we" are relatively close to Juan, and quite involved in the program, we may act as effective content filters or revisors.
- Active forum members get edit/post permissions. I do not like a fixed amount of messages, or per day ratio... just discretional to be sure that we know the person before allowing him to post anything on the wiki.

Of course, this would need to create new users (or reuse the forum's database), and assign specific attributes.



BTW, about someway to integrate the wiki to PI's process explorer. A long ago I discussed with Juan the option of including some kind of html navigator, that reads the propper documentation file from the net. This could be usefull... but, at the end, IMO there is no need to integrate that to the core application. A sepparate web browser system is much more flexible, and avoids extra work on the main application

BTW2, I second the motion of an ASAP restructuration/update of the homepage. The forum (and the new wiki) should get very visible spots there, and reflect in a much better way what is happening on the development department news, development plans/schedule, a to do list...
I think that this topic needs a sepparate thread... so, please open a new one once you have a list of suggestions

[Cheyenne]

I would suggest mediawiki as well.

I was involved in helping evaluate some different wiki setups for work, we ended up with a commercial package called confluence, however I think that mediawiki was more flexible.

Having said that, the other thing about setting up a wiki is being careful about trying to "overly manage" the content.  Wikis by nature are very dynamic and take a little time to "settle down" to how the community likes it.  One of the better informational wiki's that I've seen is one dedicated to the game of Go, called senseis library at -> http://senseis.xmp.net/ it took a little time for it to evolve, but the result is fairly nice.  One of the other natural things that will happen is that a few folks will probably become "wiki gardeners" and will help weed the wiki, move things to their "proper place" as needed.

Another suggestion is to look at how to properly "license" any information on the wiki, or at least have some sort of statement about iti,  again look at  the senseis library -> http://senseis.xmp.net/?SLCopyright as an example.

Personally,  I would have no problem with a very open license or terms of use that would allow the inclusion of any information from the wiki to be included with PI itself.

Anyway .. I'll be looking forward to the wiki

[dhalliday]

Computer dummy writes;
WHERE do I find the cloudy nites thread??
answer escaped me...

Just as a comment,I would be happy to "up the $$ ante"...if I got more info on how to use stuff.
Computer idiots are hiding out there,just like me

I thought I saw a "wiki" on the "Star Wars" movie once....

[Simon Hicks]

Hi Dave,

Just to clarify...are you suggesting an increased price on future PI sales so that this will fund the support literature development?

Cheers
         Simon

[mmirot]

I read the CN forum. You can't argue with basic problem PI and programs like it are a tough nut to crack.

I think the suggestions so far in this thread are excellent.

One thing missed is so far-

Retire Pixinsight LE downloads and documentation. Remove all traces of it from the web site and banish it from cyberspace.

It is not the best advertising for the current platform.  It is a distraction.

Having the extra documentation on the web site does help current and new users with the commercial version.

Juan might consider offering a longer trial licenses instead.


Max

[Cheyenne]

I concur, get rid of the LE stuff.  There was a speaker at a one of the local clubs that talked about astrophotography on a budget, only the LE version was mentioned with the suggestion that PhotoShop was the better tool.

Either extend the trial a bit -or- provide a limited version of the commercial version, for example, it can only save .JPG files of a certain size

[Carlos Milovic]

There are some deep reasons (or, were at least) to keep the LE version... I don't agree about removing it, but certainly it should be in a very far and dark corner

[Juan Conejero]

Hi all,

I appreciate all of your excellent ideas and suggestions. Your support is fantastic and I feel lucky for having you as PixInsight users.

I basically agree with all of your suggestions, so I'll try to implement them, as time permits. My maximum priority at this moment is releasing PixInsight 1.5.8. The large number of features, fixes and internal changes I have included in this version are far more difficult than anticipated, but they are really necessary because most of them are crucial building blocks for the next development stages. Once I manage to release 1.5.8, a reasonable schedule could be:

- New video tutorials. At least a basic series is very necessary.
- PixInsight Wiki.
- New website.

As for PixInsight LE, I finally have made a decision. I probably have been thinking too much about this; I should have taken this decision earlier. See my next post in the announcements section.

[Simon Hicks]

Hi Juan,

I agree with Max and Cheyenne on this one. LE is a negative distraction and many people do not appreciate the huge difference between PI and PI LE....and they get lumped together as the same thing. So you have taken a brave decision.....but you have to do that in business all the time....and this looks like the right decision. Well done.

Re the new website....I think you have 90% of the material you need on the present site....just needs a quite fundamental rearrangement....plus a few extra words to 'sell' it harder and get a clearer message across. On that front, you are the only person who has not had to think long and hard why they should fork out the money for this package (see Note 1 below). So why don't you let the users have a stab at the layout for you as a little competition? (on the forum.....NOT the live site of course!!!!!) You would get 10 different designs / layouts....and you could bin all of them....but one (or a combination of some of them) could give you the spark of inspiration you need....and save you a lot of time. I like this last bit the best because I want you working on Version 1.5.9!    Just a thought.

Cheers
         Simon

Note 1: OK, so you've had to completely change your life direction and take the biggest decsion of your life to do PI and make it what it is.....but I'm ignoring all of that for the sake of the argument above....he, he, he.

[Carlos Milovic]

Could you rearrange priorities, and make the wiki first? A beta release, to get the hand of it, see the configurations, and make some tests. Of course, not published on the main page until the redesign.

[mmirot]

I think it is the right move.

Max

[Cheyenne]

One possible quick wiki solution is to "farm out" the wiki to some other hosting facility.  For example, google has a wiki "offering" for just such things ( http://sites.google.com/?pli=1 ) where you can create your one wiki site.  They throw in a certain amount of free space and if you need more there is a fee. 

Just a suggestion....

[Carlos Milovic]

I don't think that an external wiki is a good solution... it should be in pixinsight's server, and "we" should have total control over it (licences, administration, etc.).

[georg.viehoever]

Would it be possible to host everything one one server, including pictures (jpgs), videos (avi), wiki, discussion forum, blogs, add on modules, you name it...? Could PI also provide a recompilation service for new modules (such that they are available for all relevant platforms and releases)? Having everything in one place would be very nice.

Georg