Proposed Cleanup for new clients

[Uncle_Fungus]

Hi all, I'd like to propose a cleanup for the FAQs and possibly the
"how tos" we've currently got on the wiki.

I've just had to do some minor cleanup after a new user started adding
what was effectively duplicate content in several articles. I'm sure
there was no malice intended, I believe it was that it is quite
difficult to find certain bits of information with the current layout.

My proposal is that now we have 2 more sets of clients (GPU and SMP),
with a third approaching (PS3), it is time the wiki had a slightly more
defined structure.

I think we should have several FAQ categories all linked to from the
main page. I've already renamed the FAQ link to General FAQ and placed
a link to GPU FAQ there.

IMHO we should split the existing FAQ into "General" issues, i.e.
client independant ones, and then make a new page for CPU, GPU, SMP and
PS3 issues. I think this seperation will make it much simpler to
navigate, and also allow people to track changes made to various
sections. It would also provide an opportunity to do a proper cleanup
of some existing articles.

If this sounds like a good idea to you I'm quite happy to take the lead
initially to start the ball rolling.

Andrew

[Clodoaldo]

2006/12/1, Uncle_Fungus <the.uncl...@gmail.com>:

>
> Hi all, I'd like to propose a cleanup for the FAQs and possibly the
> "how tos" we've currently got on the wiki.
>
>

> My proposal is that now we have 2 more sets of clients (GPU and SMP),
> with a third approaching (PS3), it is time the wiki had a slightly more
> defined structure.
>
> I think we should have several FAQ categories all linked to from the
> main page. I've already renamed the FAQ link to General FAQ and placed
> a link to GPU FAQ there.
>
> IMHO we should split the existing FAQ into "General" issues, i.e.
> client independant ones, and then make a new page for CPU, GPU, SMP and
> PS3 issues. I think this seperation will make it much simpler to
> navigate, and also allow people to track changes made to various
> sections. It would also provide an opportunity to do a proper cleanup
> of some existing articles.
>
> If this sounds like a good idea to you I'm quite happy to take the lead
> initially to start the ball rolling.
>

Whatever you guys decide is good. When i wrote the current main page
it was just as a starting point. I never though it would last so long.
Whether you a want a minor change or a revolution it is Ok with me.
I'm not directly involved with F@H support so please don't wait for my
approval for nothing.

What I don't like about the FAQ, and this has nothing to do with your
proposal, is that it has a TOC that leads to a link that leads to
another page and sometimes this page is just a bunch of external
links. A bunch of external links is much better than nothing but it
would be much better, IMHO, if there was a way to cut that
intermediary link, be it placing the content in the same page of the
TOC or be it making the TOC item point to the question page, don't
know if this last one is possible.

--
Clodoaldo Pinto Neto

[Bas Couwenberg]

I'm all for the change, I've been thinking about a different structure
for a while now too, mostly based on the entry/exit pages from usage
stats. I was thinking of adding more "flow".

There was a time when the most requested entry page was
"How_does_FAH_work?", because it is one of the first links in the FAQ.
But this page is not very usefull yet for the reason Clodoaldo
mentioned, it only contains links to other resources, it doesn't
answer the question.

The structure I thought up looks like this:
- General
--- About the Folding@Home project
--- Project Resources
----- Project Website
----- Support Forum
----- Statistics
----- Third Party Contributions

- Clients
--- General
--- CPU client
----- Console client
------- Install & usage on Windows
------- Install & usage on Linux
------- Install & usage on FreeBSD
------- Install & usage on OpenBSD
------- Install & usage on MacOS X
------- Related Howtos
------- Related FAQ items
----- GUI client
------- Install & usage on Windows
------- Install & usage on MacOS X
------- Related Howtos
------- Related FAQ items
--- SMP client
----- Console client
------- Install & usage on Linux/x86_64
------- Install & usage on MacOS X/Intel
------- Related Howtos
------- Related FAQ items
----- GUI client
------- Why it's not available (yet)
--- GPU client
----- Console client
------- Install & usage on Windows
------- Related Howtos
------- Related FAQ items
----- GUI client
------- Install & usage on Windows
------- Related Howtos
--- PS3 client
----- Install & usage
----- Related Howtos
----- Related FAQ items

- Cores
--- 0x10 GPU
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- 0x65 Tinker
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- 0x78 Gromacs
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- 0x79 Double Gromacs
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- 0x7A GB Gromacs
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- 0x82 Amber
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- 0x96 QMD
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- 0xA0 Gromacs 3.3
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- 0xA1 Gromacs SMP
----- General
----- Core specific log message
----- Core specific errors
----- Related FAQ items
--- Related Howtos

- Projects
--- Active projects
--- Project 0-999
--- Project 1000-1999
--- Project 2000-2999
--- etc

--
Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.

[Andrew Schofield]

That kind of structure is very similar to what I had in mind. The "flow" from page to page is very important.

--

Andrew Schofield

 

[Bas Couwenberg]

Have a look at:
http://fahwiki.net/index.php/Clients_Overview

My PPM to restructure the client related content.
The content from the Clients page can be copied to the respective part of the Clients_Overview, and when the Clients_Overview is done, it can replace the Clients page.

[Andrew Schofield]

Thats a great start!

I'm a little concerned that we might end up with a few seriously bloated pages though if everything gets merged into one. I'm not sure how much of an issue this might be.

Andrew

[Bas Couwenberg]

We can make separate pages for each client and each core etc and keep
the Clients(_Overview) as an index to those pages, but keep the
general info about all the clients on the index page.

[Andrew Schofield]

Ah I see, shall I try and make a template that will allow us to have a TOC that doesn't produce the entries on the page, i.e. so we can have direct links from the 'TOC' to the articles? I saw something similar on wikipedia so I'll see how they did it.

[Bas Couwenberg]

That's a very good idea, that would avoid the awkward way the FAQ page works.

Otherwise we can use normal links to the pages in the section on the
index page. See for example the CPU client section. I moved the
content to a dedicated article, and the intention for the section on
the index page is to be a summary of its purpose, capabilities and
requirements are and leave the details on the dedicated article.

[Andrew Schofield]

Hmm, I'll temporarily have to shelve that idea as what I saw wasn't really what we wanted.

If we still need to have essentially lists of pages (such as the current FAQ page), they should have the section headings in the TOC, but the links to the articles should be bulleted like on this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Navigational_templates (although there are way too many articles on that page ;) )

[Andrew Schofield]

I've updated the main FAQ using the formatting I suggested (I had fun using preg matching to remove all the =), I tihnk it looks much better no, and I think it's easier to find the articles.

[Andrew Schofield]

I've created a new template for the "source" articles of the PPM, and added the template to each relevant page (for the Client Overview article, not for the CPU article). I've also added some (brief) content to the talk page. Who knows, maybe we'll spark some more interest now that the intention is more prominent ;-)

[Clodoaldo]

2006/12/3, Andrew Schofield <the.uncl...@gmail.com>:

> I've updated the main FAQ using the formatting I suggested (I had fun using
> preg matching to remove all the =), I tihnk it looks much better no, and I
> think it's easier to find the articles.
>

Much better now.

--
Clodoaldo Pinto Neto

[Bas Couwenberg]

Indeed much better!

[Bas Couwenberg]

Well, I think the Clients_Overview page is mostly done. I can't think
of anything at least.

The CPU_client, SMP_client, GPU_client and PS3_client pages still need
to be expanded though. I don't have a GPU setup nor PS3 so I can't
work much on those. I will take a stab at the CPU and SMP client
pages, if others could join in and extend the pages which they're
knowledgeable about, that would be swell.

What do y'all think?

Bas

[Bas Couwenberg]

On 12/27/06, Bas Couwenberg <linux...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The CPU_client, SMP_client, GPU_client and PS3_client pages still need
> to be expanded though. I don't have a GPU setup nor PS3 so I can't
> work much on those. I will take a stab at the CPU and SMP client
> pages, if others could join in and extend the pages which they're
> knowledgeable about, that would be swell.

Can I conclude out of the lack of expansion of the GPU and SMP
articles that there is no one knowledgeable enough to contribute to
those articles?

I really don't like the lack of information on those pages, only the
CPU client page is decent. But I can't contribute either, because I'm
also not knowledgeable enough.

What do you all think?

Bas

[Andrew Schofield]

I'll try and get some more content added, once I have some free time.

[Bas Couwenberg]

On 3/24/07, Andrew Schofield <the.uncl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'll try and get some more content added, once I have some free time.

Cool, thanks!

I just started a new job a Server Engineer this Wednesday, which
causes me to have very little spare time (long days). So I was looking
at all the things I've been doing, what still needs to be done there,
and who might be able to help out completing it.

Thanks again,