[Geany] RFC: Setting up a monthly newsleter?

Tue Feb 8 13:50:28 UTC 2011

On 8 February 2011 20:26, Frank Lanitz <frank at frank.uvena.de> wrote:
>
> Am 07.02.2011 23:50, schrieb 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
>
> Should have been CSS ;)

OK

> >>>> 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.
>
> Great! Welcome aboard! Just ask if you have any question. I'm sure the
> list likes helping you out!

I've had great help so far.

> >>>>>> 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.
>
> ;)
> You can have a look at
>
> http://git.geany.org/newsletter/tree/newsletter_1.tex
>
> Maybe its getting interesting at
> http://git.geany.org/newsletter/tree/newsletter_1.tex#n38

The content already looks good. Well done!

> Let's see how it goes. ;)
>
> >>>> 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
> > ?).
>
> Yes, I can do it.
> I suggest outpout shall be plain text for email newsletter. PDF for FTP
> and HTML for some homepage, right?

Those options look OK to me. Does anyone have thoughts on how the
newsletter might be presented on the Geany web site. Perhaps a page on
the wiki with links to the issues in the two formats - PDF and HTML
(wiki ?).

> >>>>> 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.
>
> Maybe using a masterdocument would be nice if somebody is working on
> some content and its not clear which 'release' it will be added. So we
> could do something like a busstop strategy for newsletter. But this is
> far away from being needed I guess.

Yes, this is where a master document could be useful. It seems we
agree that there's no need for such a document now, but perhaps it
will become necessary in the future.

-- 
May you always be Frugal,

Russell Dickenson (AKA phayz)