One of the great things about Wikis is that they can grow and change by
consensus over time.  Just like a painting (or a rendering), no two people
will see the same qualities.

I spent a few hours yesterday and added all the links and some comments to
those links that I knew off.  This is the low hanging fruit.  Links are not
bad in themselves but need correctly organized.  I tried to put the external
links in places where they would be useful.

There are always going to be different classes of users.  Some will want a
snippet of POV-Ray code to complete a scene, some will want to understand
the underlying mechanics and choices.  Both can be accommodated.

When we find a page or entry that we feel needs more attention or detail we
now have a couple of choices...

The simplest is to add a new text line at the bottom of the page, ideally in
italics, that suggests what we would like to see changed or added or
enhanced.  The more expensive solution is to take the time and add the
content ourselves.

In my mind, Wikis work not by partitioning work and taking ownership for
100% quality output of a page, but building on each others capabilities in a
team and collaborative effort.  A degree of patience and consideration is
required.  If a page contains content that is not wrong but not of an
individuals style, then it is important NOT to change that page.  One should
only add content or fix errors.  Otherwise it degrades into (at worst case)
a battling set of revisions.

Again, I'm a newbie at POV-Ray so I could be very, very wrong but I think
I'd like to see an inclusive Wiki that covers as much territory as possible
as opposed to a vertical solution that has a more limited coverage.

Friends to all

Neil

"Renderdog" <slo### [at] hiwaaynet> wrote in message
news:web.41dbdbc08aadd1e24a904c7d0@news.povray.org...
> "Tom Melly" <pov### [at] tomandlucouk> wrote:
> > Also, I'd suggest some forum for discussion on the structure and
interface
> > of the site.
> >
> > In terms of structure, my only comment at the moment is that it needs
> > thought. How will searches be structured? Or, to put it another way, how
> > will the site be structured so to make finding a relevant resource as
easy
> > as possible?
> >
> > Regarding the interface, it would be nice to go for a cleaner, more
> > recognisable look. Also, aren't there other editors that can make
creating
> > articles less complex? (much as I like wiki in principle, I find the
basic
> > wiki-style an obstacle to activity). Anyone know if the editor/article
> > interface they use at wikipedia is an available plugin?
>
> I'm also concerned about starting a website without planning the
> layout and interface for usefulness and efficiency. A lot of pain
> can be avoided by taking some time before jumping into the
> water (as POV-Ray coders know).
>
> Also, I hope authors will remember POV-Ray supports multiple
> platforms. Many tools are not available for all platforms and I'd
> like to see a POV-Ray reference site focus on POV-Ray code,
> not external tools unavailable to some.
>
> Finally, the most useful advice (and the hardest to write) are
> explanations as to why a particular method is used. Presenting
> a piece of code with comments is fine, but background
> information explaining why it is done that way and relating it
> to the many other paths that could be taken is much more
> useful.
>
>
>

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