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Wiki Update?

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    #31
    Re: Wiki Update?

    I switched back to legacy help yesterday as well. Couldn't find a couple basic things I was looking for when I just needed a quick syntax reference.

    This actually calls for both Martin and Sarah, and even such a team as that would have quite a challenge.
    -Steve
    sigpic

    Comment


      #32
      Re: Wiki Update?

      Yes, the new system seems to work best when you know the answer, if only partially.

      Comment


        #33
        Re: Wiki Update?

        I think we need our own Help for the top 100-200 functions and methods that we actually use, and skip the rest. If we all list our most-used functions and methods, I would be glad to create an online Help resource that gave syntax for each and also included a hyperlink to Alpha's help on that topic. I use a Help product already to create online help for my customers that is easily searchable, indexed, etc.
        Steve Wood
        See my profile on IADN

        Comment


          #34
          Re: Wiki Update?

          That sounds a wonderful idea Steve.

          If it becomes a viable resource, I would help support as is needed and as I can.
          I am quite sure others would as well.
          Dave Mason
          [email protected]
          Skype is dave.mason46

          Comment


            #35
            Re: Wiki Update?

            Steve,

            The problem for v11 users is there are a lot of topics that relied on images that where hosted on the old wiki site. When Alpha took that site down they basically disabled a lot of the built it documentation for v11. If you search the same thing on the new site it is not even close to the information in the v11 docs in most cases so if they do have an mage in the new doc site it does not relate to any of the text in the v11 doc.

            Now while you or I could spend countless hours building a custom documentation site, it should not be the responsibility of Alpha end users to fix what Alpha broke. All they would need to do is restore the wiki site and the problem would be solved. What would it take? Just restoring the url and a few mb of server disk space.

            It is not like Alpha is not aware they broke the documentation for v11 users as it has been talked about on the forum for quite awhile. I can only assume they do not care at all about Alpha users that do not submit to constant subscription updates. Things like this is one of the main reasons I am leaving Alpha as soon as I can afford to do so.

            Comment


              #36
              Re: Wiki Update?

              I do not think Alpha understands how important the vast numbers of "non paying" v11- and Desktop users are to their bottom line. A good analogy is your local Starbucks. Most of the customers sitting there, for hours, spent about $5. Not much revenue, even if they come back often. But the fact that they sit there, making it crowded, is word of mouth, draws others to enter. The non-paying masses are vital to Alpha in terms of word of mouth, new projects, popularity, etc. If Alpha loses that base, rather than capatolizing on it, big loss.
              Steve Wood
              See my profile on IADN

              Comment


                #37
                Re: Wiki Update?

                Steve,

                Alphas new business model seems to be geared towards enterprise users and not the independent developers anymore.

                Like Starbuck, I would take 1000 $5.00 customers any day over 1 $5,000.00 customer. Alpha seems to only want the big cats now and I am not a big cat. I may become one in a few more years but it will not be with Alpha.

                Comment


                  #38
                  Re: Wiki Update?

                  On the topic of function index, does this page help: http://www.alphasoftware.com/documen...ions/index.xml
                  Steve Wood
                  See my profile on IADN

                  Comment


                    #39
                    Re: Wiki Update?

                    Here is what the internal docs look like in V11 now that the wiki site has been taken down.



                    If Steve wants to rebuild the docs or someone wants to help me then maybe we can put a useful documentation site back together.
                    It would take awhile with a little here and a little there but I guess it could be done as it is evedent that Alpha is not going to put the wiki site back up.

                    I use DrExplain for creating oniine documentation for my apps.

                    Here is a quick sample if it was done for the V11 docs. Just one topic but you would get the idea.

                    Alpha 5 V11 Docs Example

                    Comment


                      #40
                      Re: Wiki Update?

                      Actually, it can be done in Joomla pretty simple, but suspect Steve has a solid idea or he would have said nothing.
                      Dave Mason
                      [email protected]
                      Skype is dave.mason46

                      Comment


                        #41
                        Re: Wiki Update?

                        Originally posted by DaveM View Post
                        Actually, it can be done in Joomla pretty simple, but suspect Steve has a solid idea or he would have said nothing.
                        Like I said, Steve can do it or I can help as it is obvious Alpha does not care about existing customers.

                        Comment


                          #42
                          Re: Wiki Update?

                          What I would like to do is create a better index to the current help file. I cannot 'recreate' the help file because I won't live that long. And I don't want to index everything, just what people find important. We cannot put overwhelming effort in to this because any day now, Alpha might add the same welcome index to their current Help, the our work is for naught.

                          Personally I think everyone should abandon any of the old help or wiki but, like I said build this temporary or permanent helpful index.

                          Everyone has different tools. My Help looks like this: http://help.iadn.com/ckeditor/
                          Steve Wood
                          See my profile on IADN

                          Comment


                            #43
                            Re: Wiki Update?

                            I think the major problem in new Wiki is that you can not list anything you want so basically you do not find anything. Also the layout how wiki shows results does not work in paractise (many separate pages).

                            To shutdown old v11 wiki seems to be against common sense. Obviously it is just V12 marketing question to Alpha.

                            When you loose customer it is so difficult to get it back. You can get some picture of the popularity of Alphas web platform doing searh using filetype:a5w. One would expect that they would take good care of their customers. New and old ones. Desktop and web and mobile.

                            Comment


                              #44
                              Re: Wiki Update?

                              what was the function you were looking for?

                              Comment


                                #45
                                Re: Wiki Update?

                                The main strength of Alpha is the "Helper" functions and methods. Obviously, with great variety comes a large number of potential searches. When I search it is because I am new to the method and illiterate, I don't know the correct description. In the old system, we could scan a whole list of methods and drill in, in the search for answers.

                                Comment

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