From owner-freebsd-doc Fri Oct 30 13:35:22 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id NAA27804 for freebsd-doc-outgoing; Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:35:22 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from time.cdrom.com (time.cdrom.com [204.216.27.226]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id NAA27794 for ; Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:35:19 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jkh@time.cdrom.com) Received: from time.cdrom.com (jkh@localhost.cdrom.com [127.0.0.1]) by time.cdrom.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id NAA18185; Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:35:11 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jkh@time.cdrom.com) To: Sean Kelly cc: Nik Clayton , doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: RFC: Handbook reorganisation In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:16:09 MST." <363A1E89.DFEC36A0@plutotech.com> Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 13:35:11 -0800 Message-ID: <18181.909783311@time.cdrom.com> From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" Sender: owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > Commenting on the new organization would be easier if we were to make a > statement about what the intended goal and audience is: should the > handbook be targeted to the lowest, most computer-unaware user possible, > or is some familiarity with Unix assumed (for example)? This should be I think the only real answer to this question is: Yes. :-) The usual compromise approach is to make each chapter or section follow the same basic flow pattern: You start with simple, 3-4 letter words for the beginning and focus on "how to" style information and then gradually get more technical until you're covering hacker-level information at the end, capped by a further reading section that really goes off into the deep end if one exists. That way the novice users can just read as far as they need to and stop (which their limited attention spam more or less guarantees anyway ;) whereas the pros can skim the beginning and only start reading seriously at the point where the information density seems high enough. - Jordan To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message