just an idea - increasing knowledge on fabrik forums

rw1

rw1

Moderator
just an idea that i have been thinking about lately.

somehow asking the developers (nicely) to develop a quiz for the users so that they can specifically research topics that the developers are aware are key to understanding the full scope of fabrik.

it's a bit of turning the model of 'seeking answers' on the forum on its head by getting the developers to ask the users questions.

i'd personally love to increase my understanding of fabrik and its related terminology and would also love questions that could help me specifically research that which i needed to know.

i'll work a bit more on this idea and how it could be implemented and if it would be worthwhile, but i think it could be.

i think it would also have the benefit of increasing the general knowledge of users on the forums so that they in turn could help out others.

there's just a few areas that i still have to have 'ah hah' moments with mainly around the areas of database joins and cascading dropdowns etc and their implementation.

anyway, just an idea, i'll keep researchin' and trying to think about the best way to go about this!
 
The problem finding information at times is knowing what keywords to search for. You sometimes have an idea in your head what you want to do but have no idea what search terms to use.

There are many other problems as well.

The current forum sucks at searching sometimes... It doesn't like three letter searches either so you'll never be able to search for 'CSS' or 'SQL' etc.

The way round that is to use this

http://fabrikar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16334

However there is something being worked on which should replace the above issues and should be available soon.


The other issue is where to find information, do you search the forum or do you search the Wiki. This is something as you are aware is being worked on, i.e by improving the wiki.

As far as tutorials are concerned I don't know what Rob's future business model is going to be. Currently you can access certain tutorials once you are registered as Bronze\Silver, I don't know if that will change once Fabrik 3.x is released.

I would like to think that the DEMO server could go hand in hand with the Wiki eventually. The Wiki would explain some parts with possibly embedded videos and the demo server would show the finished product.
 
Oh and btw, if you ever want to see areas where documentation needs to be improved... just flick through the forums and look at the view count. :D
 
Our problem has always been time. Developing and supporting Fabrik is a full time job. And although we recognize better docs would reduce support, knowing and having the time are two different things.

I'm liking what you guys are doing with the wiki and the demo server, and now we're starting to link plugins, etc from the backend to the wiki, I think we're on the right path. And yes, Felix, I think linking the wiki with the demo server is the obvious way to go.

What I'd like to do is get 3.0 to a stable state, release 3.0.4 as the first "full" release, then have all four of us spend a week where we halt development (except for urgent bug fixes), and concentrate on building out at least the basics of a comprehensive documentation, tutorial / demo setup.

-- hugh
 
A corollary to felixkat's explanation of not knowing the keywords to search on is the problem of trying to fight through something for hours, perhaps picking up clues faster then frustration...perhaps not...and knowing that as soon as I write a question on the forum, within a minute I'll find the right search words that make my ill-shaped question look silly.

I have come to realize that what I need as a user is the same as what a presentation needs; 1) Give a statement of the situation, 2) Give the reason why that is useful or important, 3) Give an example.

The 2.0 manual was a nice statement of the situation: it went over each feature and window and option very mechanically. This is fine as an overview but doesn't help to do anything. It came out just as I entered Fabrik and was very exciting to see all the attributes in one place, but now that I am trying to do something more than "Hello World" it is the equivalent of Death by Powerpoint. (Not to disparage it at all. I know it was a lot of work and a major step forward in the evolution of the system.)

The wiki and examples are starting to help me find tidbits and I thank the hard work of the 2 who are doing the yeoman's work. The last problem is that you have to wrap your heads around how really stupid at this I am. As the saying goes, one can never make something fool proof because fools can be so damned clever.
 
ah, something like this is what i was thinking! awesome!

PHP Tutorial
PHP Quiz

SQL Tutorial
SQL Quiz

i just started taking the PHP quiz and i knew more that i thought i did, this is cool! :)

edit: and i think the quiz structure really helps to ground your knowledge and re-confirms that you know what you know! cool!
 
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