Updating the Tutorials Node

[footpad]

Follow-up Update: These changes have now been checked in. Please go to Tutorials for the latest. Many thanks for all the suggestions, both public and private.

Based on various public, private, and internal discussions, I've been quietly working on a possible update to the presentation of Tutorials. Due to various things that've happened, this has taken longer than I originally expected, however, I've finally completed my initial work and posted it to Tutorials.

Please review and offer any comments. While doing so, please keep the following in mind:

• I wanted to streamline the HTML used to present the tutorials, as well as the organization of the specific tutorials.

• There was a certain amount of interest in posting selected off-site and obliquely related tutorials. I've selected a few of the most common ones, but would appreciate additional node ID's and URL's.

• While the version on my scratch pad contains the most recently approved Tutorials (via Consideration), I'm going through the list of perltutorial nodes for others that may have slipped through the cracks. I'll add these as I find them.

  Update: My criteria for adding "forgotten" tutorials is pretty simple. If the node has a reasonably low Rep (~20) or discusses something I don't feel qualified to judge, I'll consider it using the normal process; otherwise, I'll assume that the community has already spoken and add it directly. Let me know if this is a bad idea.

Update #2 I've now finished going through the "forgotten" perltutorial nodes. I've added the ones that were clearly worth adding (imho) and considered the ones I wasn't sure about. (BTW, anyone know the two letter language abbreviation for Lithuanian? If so, please /msg me.)

• I did try to verify all links and remove all typos, but I will admit that I may have missed something. If you find something that doesn't work properly, please /msg that to me directly and I'll fix it as soon as I can.

• Should there be a seperate section (or perhaps a subsection under Network Programming) for CGI-related tutorials? I have mixed feelings on this and wonder what everyone else thinks.

Update #2: Based on replies and /msgs, I've also gone ahead and added CGI as a section to Network Programming. It messes with the organization somewhat, but I think it may help. Let me know if it does, from the average monk's perspectively.

• This is still at the draft stage, which is why I didn't update Tutorials directly. Is this moving in the right direction? Is something missing, bone-headed, or what?

I plan to leave things on the pad for a about a week or so. Unless there's great resistance or major rework needed, I'll probably commit the work next weekend or thereabouts, depending on RL needs. (As noted earlier, this work has been checked in.)

--f

[VSarkiss]

Very nicely done, I think it's an improvement over the current layout.

I do think a CGI-related section would be nice, since it's such a common topic. You may want to consider making it an "additional cross-reference" section; that is, keep the existing classification, but list the CGI-related nodes a second time in their own section. That would make more maintenance work, so I leave it to your judgement as to whether it's worth it.

Another thing to consider in the "more work but may be nice" category: a simple ranking of "beginner, intermediate, advanced" on each tutorial. For example, References Quick Reference is for quite a different audience than References. Since most of tutorials are in fact meant to be introductory, it may be simpler to just tag the advanced material with some sort of symbol.

[Aristotle]

I don't know about bone-headed, but it's definitely pointing in the right direction. In fact, I think it looks great so far. I don't find a designated CGI section especially necessary, however it would be great if the CGI help guide were added to the Troubleshooting section rather than bumbling along in the other stuff close to the bottom - I was about to suggest adding it when I spotted it, which was pure chance as I'd been there recently, causing the link to show up with visited link colour and thus standing out.

Makeshifts last the longest.

[Rex(Wrecks)]

First off, this looks great, miles above what exists now! (I am not trying to dis whoever created the existing page at all, and I hope this is not read that way)

As for feed back, the only thing I really see is that the TOC block up top should be in a larger/different font as to distinguish those links from the rest of the page.

I also like the cross link idea above as some of the tutorials may span catagories. And in that case, I would also advocate a Win32 catagory as the site has had a lot of activity focused around Win32 lately and there are a couple Tutorials based on Win32.

Great job!

"Nothing is sure but death and taxes" I say combine the two and its death to all taxes!