Lex,

Actually, Learning to Squeak was one of the very first links I cached for
Squeak. :-)

> If anyone really wants to help newbies, rearranging the Swiki would be
> effective.  It would be nice if newbies could find things quickly, and
> it would be nice if oldies could figure out what is missing and is worth
> documenting.

We're saying the same thing, IMO.  Yes, there is a lot of good material on
the Swiki.  The organization, as you say, is often lacking. For example, Ted
Kaehler's HintsForBrowsingCode provides wonderfully direct and short answers
to several questions. But to even know to look there, assuming that you
found it at the bottom of the Learning to Squeak page, implies a certain
amount of knowledge.

Then we have three examples of good content hidden from view.
"SqueakBonMots", while amusing to the cognoscenti, is (unfortunately) a
meaningless term to the majority of readers.  Or consider
"DanielVainsenchersMysteries" and "RalphJohnsonsExercises."  These are
intuitively meaningful references to someone looking for answers to
questions?  Not that there is anything wrong with Daniel Vainsencher or
Ralph Johnson naming their swiki pages that way, just that the novice has no
a priori idea what they are or why to look there.

On the other end of the accessibility spectrum is Andrew Black's Squeak
Quick Reference, and the Squeak FAQ.  No complaints there, although I'd like
to see exception handling to both.  The Squeak FAQ is excellent.  Very
similar to what I was outlining, except that the FAQ overs additional areas,
and has so much material that it can be hard for the novice to find the
specific answer being sought.

Essentially, I am suggesting a novice FAQ.  Less content to be more
accessible.  Organized on a HOW-TO basis.  Something that allows members of
the community to pose HOW-TO questions organized by their actual needs (or
by experienced Squeakers anticipating others' needs), and point to the
answers.  This is the way the FAQ is structured, and I also concur with the
stated policy with respect to the FAQ swiki and the mailing list.

There already are a couple attempts at doing Newbie pages in the Swiki.
Learning to Squeak, the Newbie Home Page, and NewSqueakerQuestions.  I know
you've been to the latter, because you asked about how the latter differs
from the FAQ.

My answer is that I'd suggest that NewSqueakerQuestions follow the format of
the FAQ, and differ essentially in that it is geared to the novice.  An
accessible subset of the FAQ, organized by HOW-TO, perhaps also using
language geared to the novice.  Odds are that it will point to things that
should be added to the FAQ (for example, search the FAQ for "exception" --
no occurences ... I guess that no one uses exceptions in Squeak?  ;-)).

> I *knew* that such a list was on the swiki, but it took me
> a few minutes -- it's listed under "Getting Started with
> Squeak" instead of under "Documentation", which now that I
> think about it, is a pretty fine line to draw.

Ought to be under both.  :-)  It IS documentation, and it IS about getting
started.  Actually, I'd have looked in the latter first, whereas I would
expect that experienced Squeakers bypass "getting started" sections.

	--- Noel