Module Developers MUST expand their help section Topic is solved

General project discussion. NOT for help questions.
Post Reply
ortegaj

Module Developers MUST expand their help section

Post by ortegaj »

Some modules out there have fairly simple usage and do not need large help sections.

But other that have both admin side and front end side MUST document the tags available for both sides.

It not just enough to include the {cms_module module="name" }  usage with some parameters. 

If more tags will be available  :'( please !!!  please  :'(  document them. 

I just spent too much time on the help sections and forums and then inside each module's code to somehow figure out the tags.

I did that because I have access but every day users like "editors"  wont have that luxury or desire to look.
Last edited by ortegaj on Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
blugecko

Re: Module Developers MUST expand their help section

Post by blugecko »

ortegaj wrote:
I just spent too much time on the help sections and forums and then inside each module's code to somehow figure out the tags.
The dev team go a great job and I guess they just do the basics on the user doc's after spending many hours on the coding.

if you have been through the code to work it out what the tags do, send it to the dev team I think most of the developers would love you to email it through to them so they can add it to the help

Cheers
Dee
Power Poster
Power Poster
Posts: 1197
Joined: Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:46 pm

Re: Module Developers MUST expand their help section

Post by Dee »

Most modules have all possible parameters explained at the bottom of their help, under the parameters section.

It should not be necessary to dive into the module code to find out how a module works (can you give examples of that?). If it is the case tough, you can add a Feature Request for more/better documentation on the module's Forge page.

Also, every module has, besided a link to it's own help page, a link to "Community Help" (like this one for News) in the wiki, which can be edited/expanded by all forum users.

Regards,
D
calguy1000
Support Guru
Support Guru
Posts: 8169
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:44 pm

Re: Module Developers MUST expand their help section

Post by calguy1000 »

ortegaj wrote: Some modules out there have fairly simple usage and do not need large help sections.

But other that have both admin side and front end side MUST document the tags available for both sides.
Modules don't need tags for the backend.... they have admin sections. 

It not just enough to include the {cms_module module="name" }  usage with some parameters.  Also, it's my experience that the modules that need the most help in the forums are FrontEndUsers.  The Frontend users module has a fairly extensive help section (much better than some modules), and the customcontent modules.  CustomContent module is self documenting, it just exports smarty variables.  Documentation on how to use them requires also learning smarty.
As a developer, I find that a) no matter how much time I spend in documentation, not many (maybe 5%) read it anyways, they'd rather ask questions in the forum, or in the IRC channel.  and b) those who do read the documentation (that 5%), don't understand it.  I make an effort to explain every parameter and its use to the best of my ability, but don't have the time to write a novel on each module.

If you're willing to write an expansive help section for modules, I'm sure we can find a way to fit it in to the distribution of the modules.
If more tags will be available  :'( please !!!  please  :'(  document them. 

I just spent too much time on the help sections and forums and then inside each module's code to somehow figure out the tags.

I did that because I have access but every day users like "editors"  wont have that luxury or desire to look.
Last edited by calguy1000 on Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Follow me on twitter
Please post system information from "Extensions >> System Information" (there is a bbcode option) on all posts asking for assistance.
--------------------
If you can't bother explaining your problem well, you shouldn't expect much in the way of assistance.
biffs

Re: Module Developers MUST expand their help section

Post by biffs »

calguy1000 wrote:
As a developer, I find that a) no matter how much time I spend in documentation, not many (maybe 5%) read it anyways, they'd rather ask questions in the forum, or in the IRC channel.  and b) those who do read the documentation (that 5%), don't understand it.  I make an effort to explain every parameter and its use to the best of my ability, but don't have the time to write a novel on each module.
I disagree.  I find the help items very useful in heloing to determine how to use a tag or module.  Especially ones not cut-and dry simple
Post Reply

Return to “General Discussion”