Talk:LinuxMCE.Org 2.0
There are many problems with the site.
1) It has been written in terrible English -- misspelled words abound and proper grammar is nearly non-existent. For example, "survailance" should be "surveillance". (A simple dictionary goes a long way.)
2) Only a small portion of the program is actually documented.
3) The changes in the program are not documented and "legacy" instructions are left on the page.
4) There is a lot of "fluff" in the documentation that is meaningless. You can't write "the program can do this and this and this!!!" when only one person has ever been able to do it. Hyperbole misleads the users.
Still, the Wiki is evolving in the right direction, slowly.
If the intent is to correct the main page, then you should get some help from the contributors to the Wiki.
I worked documenting code for an American defense contractor -- the problems with LinuxMCE documentation are not unique. Most programmers are terrible at documentation.
If you want good documentation, you must have a dedicated documenter and one programmer to whom the documenter can ask questions.
Contents
Why not just use the Wiki?
Why not just use the Wiki?
It is better written and has the benefit of many user input anyway.
Menu listing...
One VERY important part of the Linux MCE (or any system really) is the Hardware Compability List (HCL)
This should have its own Menyitem on the Front page.
Is this stale info?
I noticed that this page hasn't been edited in over 6 months. Is anybody on this? Is the current linuxmce.org site the "2.0" version? I personally would love to add some code to mix, but right now I'm playing catch up, so I thought I'd help out with the wiki. I'd ready to write new copy for the home page. I'd also be into writing the "sales pitch" and "What is LinuxMCE" docs for the non-techie. So who has write access to that page? Who is in the "design committee" (the people that would have to say "yes" to any new design changes)? Seer 02:53, 18 March 2009 (CET)
Integration Of LinuxMCE.org
I've seen that the last time this page was updated was quite some time ago, with seers asking if this was stale back in March 2009 (nearly a year ago).
From a personal viewpoint, the wiki looks a little stale, and uninviting towards new users. It could be argued that the software speaks for itself, though, I feel that it's possibly missing a vast amount of the audience that it could potentially hit. I'm a little more technical than most, but not as technical as some, and I have issues looking around the various parts of the site. One of the biggest selling points of the software itself, is that it's all integrated. I know that's what I love about the project, it brings many areas, such as media, home automation and security into one place, but the site it runs from, speaks differently. The wiki doesn't really integrate with any of the other areas of LMCE save for direct links.
It's a shame that there isn't a little more integration between both forums and wiki. I like the idea of the things that have been proposed above, and would be willing to offer some time to help implement them if needed / wanted.
I think it would provide for better usability over all of the areas that are LMCE, rather than them looking separate and distinctly isolated. And if the same integration followed through for the site and it's subsections, it would appeal to a greater audience in the same way the software itself does. Having been a Linux use for the last 3 years or so, it was a very steep learning curve, at least for me (epsecially when having to rebuild nvidia drivers each time the kernel is updated). From a Windows user POV, if the documentation isn't easy to navigate / find, they aren't going to invest a second look, which ultimately narrows the market for the product.--Morpheus 18:05, 21 February 2010 (CET)