TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I'll do my best to send out updates via the list but right now the arc of my
progress can be summarized as: know problem --> frustrated b/c the first 10
solutions don't work the way I wanted --> find solution or something I can
accept as better than where I started.
But for those playing along at home, I can give a little structural
background on the site and email discussion groups:
Most of the website is powered by the CMS solution Drupal 6.x. Drupal is a
very robust open source platform but is pretty complex. I'm an avid
Wordpress fan because it's fairly user friendly. Drupal isn't. However,
there's a ton of good training out there for novices like myself. Lynda.com
has some good stuff.
However, the archives for the email discussion groups aren't really part of
Drupal thus the formatting problem I had late last week when I changed the
navigation UI for the site. The archives are created via some dark art
process I haven't quite figured out. As of yesterday, I know that Mailman
runs this list serve and a small script comes into our mail server (postfix)
and grabs all the recent content. Then, on the backs of fairies this
content is archived into folders by date and time. It then generates a
summary Index page which is level 2 in the archives if the entry page
/archives is level 1.
As of now, we just have deep links into the archive and a header that sort
of looks the same. Our long term solution is to start archiving everything
within Drupal, but I'm certain that the process won't be pleasant. Frankly,
right now, I'd be pleased to find a solution that integrates the Drupal
search with the archives search. There's a couple good possibilities out
there but until I look into the difficulty of bringing all the content in
house; the two searches will need to be separate. I'd rather not burn time
with an interim solution if the long term fix has a comparable time and
difficulty rating.
Thanks for being part of Techwr-l and for your interest in our progress.
It's greatly appreciated.
take care,
al
On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 4:59 AM, Phil <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com> wrote:
> I agree with Lauren.
>
> The website is a secondary resource for me whereas the list gets opened
> every morning before my newspaper. I have to do some research on
> screencasting for my MA thesis next year, so I''d love to know a bit more
> about how to work the archives.
>
> Best
>
> Phil
>
> On 19 Apr 2011, at 05:00, Lauren wrote:
>
> > On 4/18/2011 10:25 AM, INKtopia Admin wrote:
> >> If you're interested in following the progress of the website
> development,
> >> I've created a blog to track our changes and activities:
> >> www.techwr-l.com/inside. Connie and I plan to occasionally send
> updates on
> >> the website to the entire list but these will most likely only occur if
> a)
> >> we've hit a milestone in design b) I've blown it up :)
> >
> > It sounds like you are doing great things!
> >
> > I think that sharing with the list and letting us discuss your progress
> would be good, though. Many people here can learn from your experience and
> many people may be able to offer suggestions. The blog is a good tool, but
> the email list is the primary form of communication for the list members on
> the list.
> >
> > I like to watch progress as it happens, rather than hear about it later.
> Even when I may not be involved in the specific technology of a particular
> discussion, I like to follow what is happening. So, I think open
> discussions on the list about the progress of the techwr-l site would be
> nice.
> >
> > Lauren
> >
>
>
>
> Phil Stokes BA MA TESOLcert
> Language Instructor
> Chulalongkorn University Language Institute
> Phaya Thai Road
> Patumwan
> Bangkok
> 10330
> Thailand
>
> Tel: (662) 218-6089
> philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com
> 2551phil -at- gmail -dot- com
> philip -dot- s -at- chula -dot- ac -dot- th
>
> Technical Writing
> Help Guides | Tutorials | User Manuals
>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14906355/hiretech_write.htm
>
> Essential Thinking for Philosophy
>http://essentialthinking.wordpress.com/
>
> LinkedIn
>http://www.linkedin.com/pub/philip-stokes/31/721/b67
>
>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with
> Doc-To-Help.
> Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
> Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
>http://www.doctohelp.com
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as admin -at- inktopia -dot- net -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/admin%40inktopia.net
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>
--
Techwr-l.com
Empowering Technical Writers since 1993
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. http://www.doctohelp.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
