Proposed www.squeak.org changes

Doug Way dway at mat.net
Wed Apr 19 01:05:31 UTC 2000


I've noticed that a lot of newbies posting to this list are unaware of the
existence of the wealth of Squeak information and documentation on the
Squeak Swiki (at GATech).

In my opinion, the Squeak Swiki should be the #2 stop for any newcomer
investigating Squeak, www.squeak.org being the #1 stop.  Some of the more
obvious frequently asked questions on this list would be avoided if
newbies were aware of the Swiki and what it contains.

(Is "Squeak Swiki" the official name for the GATech swiki?  Good enough?)

Anyway, I think the lack of awareness is due to insufficient links from
the www.squeak.org page.  There is one link, but the Swiki is described as
a "discussion area", which I don't think is really accurate.  Probably
less than 5% of the content of the Swiki is what I would call
back-and-forth discussion... the place to go for active discussions is
this email list, not the Swiki.  I think of the Swiki as a unique "living"
information resource, with some discussions, too.  Most importantly, it
should be emphasized that the vast majority of online Squeak information
and documentation is available on the Swiki.

So, I'm attaching a proposed revision to the Swiki section of the
www.squeak.org site.  (Hope this is okay.)  Mostly, I just added stuff at
the beginning of the section... I included additional specific links to
the Squeak FAQ, and also the Screenshots page, which I think are two
things that someone browsing a site for the first time will want to know
about.  (I also added a comment about the squeakDoc site being out of
date... perhaps that paragraph should just be removed altogether?)

If someone wants to edit or change my text before putting it up on
www.squeak.org, that's perfectly fine.  I just want to see the important
points and links included.

- Doug Way
  EAI/Transom Technologies, Ann Arbor, MI
  http://www.transom.com
  dway at mat.net, @eai.com

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...

<li> <a href="#mailList">The Squeak Mailing List</a>
<li> <a href="#wiki">Squeak Documentation and Discussions on Wiki Servers</a>
<li> <a href="#license">Squeak is Free, with a Liberal License</a>

...


<a name=wiki>
<h2>Squeak Documentation and Discussions on Wiki Servers</h2>

In addition to the mailing list, Squeak is documented and discussed on a web site that acts like a bulletin board.<p>

Please visit the <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/1">Squeak Swiki</a> site.  It contains more "live" documentation and information on Squeak than you'll find anywhere else.  This includes a <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/471">Squeak FAQ</a>, tutorials, documentation, <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/683">Screenshots of Squeak</a>, project discussions, and much more.<p>

How is this "Swiki" site implemented?  Well, ...<p>

An exciting new dimension has recently been added to the Squeak community with Ward Cunningham's Wiki server concept, and its various implementations.  A Wiki server is quick to implement (in fact Wiki-Wiki <b>means</b> quick in Hawaian Creole):  A Wiki server serves pages just like any other server, <b>except</b> that anyone (even you) can also change them and create new ones.  There are no security or synchronization checks.  If something goes wrong you fix it back again; if everything goes wrong, someone restores the last saved copy.<p>

Because it is not sequential like mail, this medium is much better suited to sharing "gestalts" such as personal profiles and interests, project descriptions and status, and the like.  Because anyone can make their own changes or new pages, it is an ideal medium for "hosting" a community.  There is no need for everyone to have a web page with your thoughts on Squeak -- the Squeak Wiki is waiting right now to host your thoughts.<p>

The internal documentation of Squeak is now being done on a Squeak-based webserver.  Enter the <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeakDoc.1">Squeak Documentation Swiki</a> to see the contents of all the info windows in Squeak.<p>

You may fondly remember Ward Cunningham's Wiki-wiki.  It has now been moved in its entirety to a Swiki at Georgia Tech: start at <a href="http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak.127">WelcomeVisitors</a><p>

Every copy of Squeak now includes Mark Guzdial's Wiki web server.  A <a href="http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/mark.guzdial/squeak/pws/">Swiki</a> is one of several Pluggable Web Servers based on Georg Gollman's Squeak web server software.  Swikis are available with password protection for the site or for the individual page.<p>




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