I think it's critical to recognize our products... Lotus Symphony as an example... appeals to students to developers to senior citizens... I think having tailored documentation is critical...

the information should be presented verbally, visually and as written word. I think DITA might be one of the ways to accomplish it.

For 8.5 I would settle in getting some adequate documentation in any form let alone having choices of format.

Hi Sal. One area our group is focussing on is learning media such as videos, tutorials, etc. For example,the Notes and Domino product wiki now has a media gallery that links to these types of deliverables: { Link }

We are also addressing this issue in other ways, and I'll try to get other members of our group to share some of that work with you.

Peter: How, specifically, would you like to see the Notes/Domino documentation improved?

Hi, Sal. You may want to check out the Custom Content Assembler pilot application on Lotus Labs: { Link }

This is an application and service that we've written here in Lotus ID that allows users to create customized views/output of our documentation. Currently there's only a single content source (Sametime Advanced), but more are on the way. We're also planning to do learning-oriented deliverables here (everything from quick demos/tutorials to full-blown courses).

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Lotus ID I think every page of an InfoCenter should be Googleable.

I know I can Google to find an InfoCenter, eg for Lotus Connections. I don't think individual pages of an InfoCenter are Googleable.

Hi Sal,

Every page of an Infocenter is googleable. However, individual pages inside the InfoCenter may not rank very high on the list of returns.

For example, if I google a phrase copied directly from the Lotus Forms IC: "Ensure Forms Services Platform is deployed after installation.", using an exact phrase, that individual page is returned at the top of the Google results list. However, if I just try to match some keywords (Forms Services Platform deployed) then that page is lost somewhere in the 526,000 results I get back. (On the other hand, a different page in that same IC is the first result.)

I should note that we are continuing work to improve our search results. :-)

Deanna,

Thanks. It's comforting to know the individual pages are Googleable, now I'll just have to develop the techniques that'll help Google find them.

- Sal

Sal,

I minored in education in college, and I can tell you that it isn't just age or when people came into the field. There are very real differences in how people learn - auditory, visual, reading, hands-on-action, etc. I think you are ALSO talking about how people locate their learning tools - books, readme files, blogs, podcasts, etc., which can be a function of how they "learned to learn".

Technology is changing very quickly these days, and the trend I have seen is that some vendor-written documentation comes out with a new technology, then very quickly someone is blogging about it, then some videos hit youtube, and then more web documentation becomes available, and eventually - if it sticks around long enough that some publisher takes notice and beleives he can make a few $$ - a book gets written.

The good news in all this is that different learning styles have the tools available to them to learn in different ways. The bad news is that if you're stuck on books as a tool, you may get left behind. However, there are web-based tools available to run limited prints at very low cost...perhaps if someone wanted to aggregate some great web-based teaching material into a limited print book, it would be a great "chapbook" to provide at conferences, etc.

very strange / stupid that there is no real/good book about xpages development available...

Domino Designer is undergoing a content assessment to better "target" the information in its large help system based on audience/user. This is an ongoing process but we are trying to address various types of application development users (novice to expert) in this effort

@Patrick: There's now a Redwiki, "Building Domino Web Applications using Domino 8.5.1" that emphasizes Xpages development:

{ Link }

Let us know what you think.

Consider checking out the <a href="{ Link } about="_blank">Lotus Learning Widget for Lotus Notes</a>. It's a widget that displays in the Lotus Notes sidebar and contains links to many different types of learning materials including demonstrations, videos (guided tours), tutorials, reference cards, and self-paced web seminars.