Documentation

[papaf]

The good thing about a wiki is that one can start and enter information right away, in no particular order, and in no particular organization either. The home page will do all that.

I for one plan to write down Harry's video tutorial, as some users requested that.

Fabio

[Cheyenne]

Well... got registered on the Wiki...

Looks like I know what I'm going to do this evening

[Cheyenne]

Okay.. I started a page in the wiki to deal with DSLR image calibration, since that was a topic that has been discussed quite a bit in the forums.  It's not finished (and I'm about to fall asleep at the keyboard), and probably needs some major corrections (hey .. that's where the wiki comes in handy .  Wikis are really a "Stone Soup" effort

I added a little to the "front" page of the wiki, feel free to back any of it out.  Basically the idea I was thinking is: First section PixInsight "reference", how the gui works, information on specific processes etc.  2nd section How to use PixInsight to actually do stuff, sample workflows, how to fix image problems, etc.  3rd section how to extend PixInsight, scripts, PJSR, and PCL programming.

[Simon Hicks]

Hi Cheyenne,

Great start....looks good so far! As I said before, I'm new to WIKIs so I may ask daft questions! I would really like to see somewhere on the WIKI a seperate item on each and every Process (and the scripts) so that we can give an overview of that Process and then a detailed description of what each and every button does, maybe with some hints on clever usage. Does this fit with you general scheme? Would this go in the 'Processing Modules' section? And should we have a 'Scripts' section or just include scripts in with the Processes?

Cheers
         Simon

[georg.viehoever]

Hi Simon,

I tried to kick off something like this in the "Processing Modules" section http://wiki.pixinsight.com/tiki-index.php?page=Processing+Modules . I think we should collect links to useful forum articles and tips/tricks for every module there. Is that a useful approach?

Georg

[Simon Hicks]

Hi Georg,

Here's a pedantic point (I apologise)....should it be 'Process Modules' rather than 'Processing Modules'.

I was thinking of a straight alphabetical list of all the Process Modules....one item for each module....sort of like a Reference Manual. There isn't a HELP Manual for the software as such, so it would be really helpful for new users (and me) to be able to go somewhere and just find out how to use each and every module....a refernce source. Really basic stuff....like what does each button actually do....sometimes its really not that obvious.

So maybe a standard format would be a good approach....Maybe Process Name as the item title, then standard paragraphs on Intro, Description of the Parameters and buttons, usage hints and tips, links to more articles? If we agreed a starting format, then someone could create all the items (one for each Process Module) and put the paragraph titles in each one and leave the content blank for others to start adding material.

I'm not sure if this is the way to use a WIKI or not....so please advise! 

Cheers
         Simon

[georg.viehoever]

Hi Simon,

the way to use a Wiki is just to start writing. If you feel a standard format for a description will help: Please feel free to just write a couple of examples. Only time will show if this is going to be accepted by prospective authors. Wikis are in effect kind of "voting by feet" (a german idiom): If you get enough followers for your proposal, it wins. I find that I usually like to collect useful links and maybe add some quick remarks (because there is already so much material around), but if you feel like writing full articles, just do it..

Georg

[Simon Hicks]

Hi Georg,

Thanks for the feedback....I think I'm getting the idea.....slowly!

Cheers
         Simon

[papaf]

I sense a bit of confusion between tutorials and processing steps. Wouldn't it kind of become the same thing?

Fabio

[Cheyenne]

A couple of comments/ideas

I believe that at first, any wiki starts out as a mess, until the community gels around how it is to work.  Even disagreements get resolved over time, use discussions and comments to work things out.  So yes -- just start writing, the order and structure will rise up out of the mess as the community starts working on it.  Again it's the stone soup model.  Don't be afraid of making a change.  One of the other things about wikis is one should not feel that there is individual ownership of any one page, however over time, you will find that certain people will have certain expertise and will tend to take care of a certain pages.

What I would like to see (gee it would be great if the soup had some potatoes, carrots, and maybe a little bit of seasoning): a page for each Process Module, a "I have this type of image problem, how do I fix it" section, background information on the settings within the Process Modules (why/when should I change that value and what does it mean).

One type of structure that I have found that works well for me is to break manuals into two main sections.  A Guide and a Reference.  A guide is used for the big picture (think of something like: "Stephen James O'Meara's Observing the Night Sky with Binoculars: A Simple Guide to the Heavens") while a reference is just the facts, (something like Uranonmetria Vol 3 - which is a catalog of individual objects with a lot of very specific type of information).

On the tutorial vs process steps, maybe they are the same...

Anyway -- just some thoughts..

[georg.viehoever]

Hi Juan,

now that you got the Wiki started, could you configure it to include some useful features? I am thinking about these:
- PluginAname http://doc.tikiwiki.org/PluginAname&structure=Documentation and PluginALink http://doc.tikiwiki.org/PluginAlink&structure=Documentation
- PluginBacklinks http://doc.tikiwiki.org/PluginBacklinks&structure=Documentation
- PluginToc http://doc.tikiwiki.org/PluginToc&structure=Documentation
- you may also want enable http://doc.tikiwiki.org/AutoLinks&bl=y and WikiWords http://doc.tikiwiki.org/Wiki-Syntax+Links&structure=Documentation#Linking_Within_a_Tiki_Site, or the SemanticModule http://doc.tikiwiki.org/Module+semantic_links&bl=y

During my experiments, I had the impression that these are currently not enabled. Maybe you also find other plugins or modules that you find useful.

The Wiki now has some initial contents. Maybe you also want to add a link on http://www.pixinsight.com/,

Cheers,
Georg

[Cheyenne]

Also the plug in that allows math formulas (PlugExpression I believe)

[papaf]

I just realized that HTML codes has been disabled, but unfortunately I already did use them. Can anyone tell me what the equivalent of <br> is?

EDIT: it hasn't actually be modified. HTML code seems to work in previews but not when the page is saved?
EDIT2: never mind, I've found that writing a "%%%" equals to HTML <br>

Fabio

[Juan Conejero]

OK, I've just enabled all plugins requested and a few more. Unfortunately, the Equation plugin doesn't seem to work at all, probably because LaTeX isn't available on the server's PHP installation  (Lunarpages). I'll contact the support service to see if they are so kind as to install it for us. In the meanwhile, you can use the MathTranClient script in PI to render LaTeX formulas as PNG images (specify transparent background). Ask here if you have doubts/problems with MathTran syntax.

Fabio, I have enabled HTML contents on wiki pages, you there should be no problems now to include direct HTML/CSS code.

I have found also a small and nasty problem: the Preview button doesn't appear on the Sandbox editor, which makes it completely useless! Any ideas why this happens?

Other that that, the wiki seems to work fine, doesn't it?

By the way, did I say a BIG THANKS to all of you for contributing? 

[papaf]

Another question: what version of tiki is running? I have some problems with images surrounded by text, it seems some version 4 commands do not work? Is this by chance any 3.x version?

Fabio