[reportlab-users] Bulleted Text not displaying

[Dinu Gherman]

Peter Mattingly:


> [...]  So you're saying: if I want to "patch" (e.g. revise or  

> completely re-write from the ground up) a segment of documentation I  

> have to send in code?


So true, in fact! I haven't seen it so clearly before.
It's kind of a blocker to ask people for code in order
to document the code. And I'm saying this as someone who
normally works with self-referential concepts in my tech-
nical writing and software development.


> I'm currently a student learning how to do more with Report Labs,  

> I'm not experienced enough with your conventions to create clean  

> portable code.  But at the same time, I'm able to revise and  

> elucidate a section of the user manual with perfect clarity and a  

> few minutes time.  This would not be the case with programmtically  

> creating a similar solution.  If the time I've spent so far is any  

> indication, such a project would require *multiple hours* of work to  

> fully understand the entire process.  I suspect I've found an  

> inefficiency in the process of the community driven documentation  

> you're trying to create.

>

> I can however make changes to a Wiki, which is a much simpler  

> approach that others have taken to create community editable  

> documents - including user documentation.  The experience is akin to  

> making a post on a forum or writing a letter, rather than programming.


Very well explained! Wikis have been suggested repeatedly
starting as long as eight years ago, maybe. And from my
point of view the situation hasn't changed. ReportLab Ltd.
still cultivates its fear and wrong perceptions of losing
control over its baby.

As long as this remains an emotional issue rather than a
technical one, it is hard to see any perspective on real
progress towards a development (and documentation) process
which actually does significantly involve the community.

One way out of this in the Open Source world would be a
fork of the project - this is not a suggestion, but a re-
minder. I hope it's not going to happen, but maybe this
is also just another useless fear.

Regards,

Dinu