[Geany] RFC: Setting up a monthly newsleter?

[Russell Dickenson]

On 8 February 2011 04:21, Frank Lanitz <frank at frank.uvena.de> wrote:
> On Mon, 7 Feb 2011 12:21:00 +1000
> Russell Dickenson <russelldickenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> >> 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.
>
> I guess depending on the markup language we are choosing in the end,
> generating a HTML with some nice cc should be the smallest issue as
> nearly all of them do support such thing.

Sorry but I don't understand what "cc" means. :P


>> > 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.
>
> In fact this is a nice idea. I'm asking who like to take over this task
> and provide something like this on a monthly basis for the newsletter?

I'll volunteer for this role. You need to know, though, that I am
learning Geany so my explanations are likely to be quite simple. This
may be a good thing because as I learn I can write about what I have
learned in the newsletter. I'll need someone who is more familiar with
Geany to check my work though.


>> >>> 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.
>
> I don't care much about the markup language. LaTeX on our level is not
> more complicated as writing ReST etc. I guess.

I would prefer not to have to learn something like LaTeX but since
there's a Geany plugin available, I'm happy to stick with LaTeX for
the moment. As you suggest, Frank, since we're not writing complex
documents I don't expect the LaTeX markup used to be very complex.
I'll probably be doing a little cut-and-pasting if that's OK.


>> > 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.
>
> OK. Let's give ReST a try. I guess we will need to have a makefile
> which is generating the output we need. Who likes to do this? Also I
> think this should be done after volume 1 has been send to public.

In fact perhaps we should stick with LaTeX for the moment, Frank?
Since you have experience with this already, creating the necessary
Makefile should be easier than creating one for reST (or is it 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.
>
> As mentioned: With usage of git there is no real need to have such
> thing like a master document as its possible to edit without having
> unsolvable conflicts.

I am using a master document for the Frugalware Linux newsletter for
various reasons which probably don't apply to the Geany newsletter. I
am comfortable using Git and agree that there's no need at the moment
for a master document.


> Cheers,
> Frank
> --
> http://frank.uvena.de/en/

Thanks.


-- 
Russell