Re: Development news

[Patrick Strasser]

Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
> No it doesn't render it to that, you still need a net connection to be
> able to use a text browser.

Offline browser.

>    I'm speaking for people who want to have it handy and nice when
>    looking for some information.  That means graphical hypertext to me
>    atm., or in other words: HTML + CSS viewed with IE.
>
> It is not our job to care about people that use non-free software.

<sarcastic>
Funny. When I look at the stats of my web pages, I see more than 90% IE. 
So you mean I should stop publishing via HTML to not support non-free 
software?
</sarcastic>

It's not our job to care with which tools people consume our provided 
information, as long as it can be done with free software in a 
reasonable way. Fortunately we have HTML and CSS standardized, and for 
gnu.org you have to follow these standards.

> And really, what is the point of having a "good looking page", with no
> useful information?  The Hurd project lacks a lot of documentation.

Aren't we talking about increasing the level of valuable documentation? 
I think work should start as near as possible to potential testers that 
may become users and developers.

I don't want to confuse marketing and information.
'try-again -vv'
The best way to attract users, testers, developers and the like is to 
establish a good image of the Hurd in public.
There's no use of people trying the Hurd and telling their friends that 
it does not work. We must make clear what you can expect, so it must be 
made clear what one gets when she tries the Hurd.
For people which watch the Hurd very closely it's important to tell them 
that the often smiled at and reputed to death Hurd is still alive and 
will come to a usable state.
Both aims together lead to one conclusion:
Good, true information is the best marketing.

>    It would be nice to see the access stats and find out what people
>    visit the Hurd pages at gnu.org.

> How in heavens name would statistics help?  They don't produce code,
> documentation, bug reports, help new users, etc.  Statistics are
> completly useles.

Are nice to look at.
Give information.
I'd like to know if people use the links. That would mean they want to 
know more. And I want to know if they come back again and how often they 
check the news.

>    I could happily live with some people trying to run the Hurd just
>    because of the good impression they had looking at the pages.
>
> I wouldn't, trying to use something does not help to develop it.  And
> having "nice pages" don't help in that regard in anyway what so ever.

So you would send everybody away who is not actively doing something in 
code?
Maybe I should do something to make the pages nicer. You wouldn't do 
this obviously.

>    > Recall also that some people don't use the web at all, or not
>    > very frequently.
>
>    I'm not talking about that people.
>
> Irrelevant.  The web pages should serve for everyone, including those
> who use speech syntesiers, or those who use the CVS version of Xfree86
> and Gnome.

Instructions for cvs already exist. Insert a link to the NEWS file. 
Would that be sufficient for these?

Patrick
--
Engineers motto:  | Patrick Strasser
[ ] cheap         | <past at sbox dot tugraz dot at>
[ ] good          |
[ ] fast          | Student of Telematik
-> choose any two | Techn. University Graz, Austria