[Geany] RFC: Setting up a monthly newsleter?

[Russell Dickenson]

On 7 February 2011 09:53, Lex Trotman <elextr at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 7 February 2011 09:24, Russell Dickenson <russelldickenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 7 February 2011 03:00, Frank Lanitz <frank at frank.uvena.de> wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Sorry for the late coming back. Somehow I missed this mail ...
>>>
>>> On Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:08:15 +1000 Russell Dickenson
>>> <russelldickenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think this is a *great* idea and am willing to volunteer as a member
>>>> of the newsletter team.
>>>
>>> Cool. Great to hear.
>>>
>>>> I'm happy to "give it a go" and will let
>>>> others judge my work. My time is rather limited at the moment but I
>>>> believe I could make a useful contribution. I speak (and write) only
>>>> English, I'm afraid, so I couldn't contribute to translations in any
>>>> way.
>>>
>>> As we should start in English, a native speaker could be a great help
>>> beside of contributing content also on spell checking, grammar and
>>> stuff.
>>
>> I'll do my best. :)
>>
>>>> In thinking about the format, I wonder if a blog-style format might be
>>>> better than a regular newsletter. I say this only because a newsletter
>>>> can be delayed solely because one item is not quite ready. I am the
>>>> author and editor of the Frugalware Linux newsletter, so I have some
>>>> experience in this area. For the moment I'll await further details and
>>>> team members. :)
>>>
>>> Well, I'm not sure how this could look like. Can you give a more
>>> detailed exampled?
>>
>> For examples of "my" work for Frugalware Linux, look here -
>> http://www.frugalware.org and click on the links in the newsletter
>> announcements.
>
> Thats the sort of thing I imagined when Frank raised the possibility.
> (but larger type please)

Good. I agree that larger type is desireable, given that my eyes are
aging. :) Some CSS changes were made on the Frugalware web site and I
agree that the new type size is a little too small.


>> The question is: in what format would people like to see the
>> newsletter published? The Ubuntu newsletter is published as a weekly
>> email, for example. The Frugalware Linux newsletter is published on a
>> web site in HTML format. Personally I would prefer that the
>> newsletter's content be hosted on a web site instead of sent out via
>> email. The hosted method makes it easier to correct errors which may
>> occur occasionally. Of course we could announce the latest newsletter
>> in the usual Geany ML(s).
>
> +1 for website, then I can't delete it and an archive can be kept in
> case it contains stuff that lasts beyond this month.

Thanks.


> Which actually would be a good idea, Geany has a fair bit of "hidden"
> functionality and a "function of the month" exposing functions of
> Geany that people tend to forget would be good, I know I keep
> (re)learning new shortcuts.
>
> And a "Plugin of the month" too :-)

I agree. A feature/plugin focus of the month would be useful. I know
that it takes me a while to get to know an application like Geany
well. Focusing on a particular feature would make the learning process
easier for people like me. As someone who likes to tweak configuration
settings, hints on these topics would also be useful I believe.


>>> Right now I started to put some content together into a LaTeX-file
>>> which will be compiled to PDF and plain text and send out later once
>>> its done.
>>
>> Would you mind sending the finished product to me?
>>
>> A question to Frank and others - do you mind in what format the
>> newsletter's content is written in? I only have experience in using
>> HTML and AsciiDoc (http://www.methods.co.nz/asciidoc/). I would *much*
>> prefer to use AsciiDoc because it "is a text document format for
>> writing notes, documentation, articles, books, ebooks, slideshows, web
>> pages, man pages and blogs. AsciiDoc files can be translated to many
>> formats including HTML, PDF, EPUB, man page." I know that there are
>> similar tools such as "plain text" markup languages but AsciiDoc is
>> the one with which I have most experience.
>
> -1 for Latex, I know Frank is a Latexpert but they are a bit thin on
> the ground, so having to do contributions in Latex would be limiting
> (or would require Frank to do lots of conversion, and we want him to
> have more time for other things :-).

Yes. Sorry, but I not likely to contribute if I have to learn
something like Latex. It's not something I'm using now, nor likely to
use any time in the near future so I'm simply not motivated to learn
it.

> As an occasional Asciidoc contributor I hate to say this but...
>
> Perhaps the project should stick to one markup language?  Geany's
> documentation is done in reST, a part of Python's docutils which is
> used to produce the Python docs.
> (see http://docs.python.org/documenting/index.html ).
> reST is a "lightweight markup language" quite similar to Asciidoc and
> as you can see from the Geany help file produces HTML (and others too
> IIRC).

That's the one I was trying to think of! Thanks, Lex, for reminding
me. I included AsciiDoc only as an example. I don't want to complicate
things too much so would be happy to use reST. I currently use
AsciiDoc for other projects but I see no reason to try to force it
upon other people when a similar tool is already in use and doing its
job well.


> Personal comment, I moved from reST to Asciidoc because I prefer its
> source and its output, but the difference in the source isn't huge so
> I doubt Russell will have much difficulty.

Perhaps you don't know me too well. :P Seriously though, I'm confident
I could handle reST.


>> Assuming we were using AsciiDoc, we could have a master document which
>> then draws in content from various contributors and is then converted
>> to various formats. This method would make the job of the newsletter's
>> editor a little easier since each piece can be edited separately, then
>> combined into one document.
>
> Anything that simplifies the process is good if it reduces the time
> required of the editor and contributors.  This leads to more
> contributions and more regular publication.

I'll look into options available via reST. Even if it doesn't offer a
"master document" option natively, I'm sure a custom solution could
easily be created.

>
>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Frank
>>
>> Thanks for your reply.
>>
>> Another question to everyone - since I am the only person to have
>> volunteered so far I'm putting my thoughts out for everyone to read.
>> Am I going too far in suggesting formats and tools?
>>
>
> Since it seems to be only you and Frank ATM both of you need to be
> happy about the tools.

I'm happy so far. :P I just want to make sure people don't see me
rushing into this, forcing my opinions onto others.


-- 
Russell