[R-wiki] Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced indicator

[Martin Maechler]

>>>>> "PatBurns" == Patrick Burns <pburns at pburns.seanet.com>
>>>>>     on Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:17:39 +0000 writes:

    PatBurns> I think having some identifier is a very good idea.
    PatBurns> I'm not convinced that the wiki should be dedicated to
    PatBurns> beginners only.  In my vision subjects would have a
    PatBurns> layered set of pages -- the main page would be at the
    PatBurns> beginner level.  That page would have links to several
    PatBurns> intermediate topics, which might each have links to
    PatBurns> advanced topics.

I think this is a very good suggestion, 
which you should strongly consider as one main guiding principle
of the R-wiki design.

(BTW, at the moment, the Wiki prototype does not look at all
 like it was for beginners; mainly because it shows so much
 about the Wiki structure from the start;
 but I'm sure you are aware of this, and it's probably on
 purpose for this phase where you are looking for many
 contributors...)

    PatBurns> This structure satisfies two very dissimilar styles of learning.
    PatBurns> There are those (like my wife) who have to have an overall
    PatBurns> picture of what is happening before anything makes sense.
    PatBurns> There are others who have to have details before the picture
    PatBurns> forms at all.  A former colleague of mine is an extreme example
    PatBurns> of the latter -- he had to know what every function did in
    PatBurns> detail before he was satisfied that he knew what a package did.

    PatBurns> I don't think that we can enforce a layered approach to pages,
    PatBurns> but I think it would be a definite benefit if we encouraged it as
    PatBurns> much as possible.  The main thing that I think is wrong with
    PatBurns> S Poetry is that it  isn't layered.


    PatBurns> Patrick Burns
    PatBurns> patrick at burns-stat.com
    PatBurns> +44 (0)20 8525 0696
    PatBurns> http://www.burns-stat.com
    PatBurns> (home of S Poetry and "A Guide for the Unwilling S User")

    PatBurns> Philippe Grosjean wrote:

    >> Hello,
    >> 
    >> Although the R Wiki site would primarily be dedicated to beginners, 
    >> there is already, and there will be in the future several pages dealing 
    >> with more advanced topics.
    >> 
    >> In order to spot this, I propose little icons easy to integrate in the 
    >> pages (for instance :--+: means something dedicated exclusively to 
    >> experts, see: "Smileys & other icons in 
    >> http://www.sciviews.org/_rgui/wiki/doku.php?id=wiki:syntax).
    >> 
    >> You can see examples of using these indicators at:
    >> http://www.sciviews.org/_rgui/wiki/doku.php?id=rtips:data:import
    >> and 
    >> http://www.sciviews.org/_rgui/wiki/doku.php?id=beginners:surprises:emptysetfuncs
    >> for instance.
    >> 
    >> What do you think about it? Personnally, I found them nice when I did 
    >> draw the icons, but they look a little "toyish" once integrated in the 
    >> Wiki pages. Does someone have a better idea to help spotting items 
    >> related to each user's skill?
    >> 
    >> Best,
    >> 
    >> Philippe Grosjean