R.I.P.
----------------------------------------------
Everyone sorry for wasting your time.

---

Geeklog Polish Support Team

Should this not be

public_html -> admin -> plugins -> forum ?

For step 8 and following I would put an emphasis that the CONTENT of the directory has to be copied, not the directory itself.

Also, since you describe the editing, I would link to the Wiki page where they mention the possible editors for config.php to avoid people use dreamweaver etc.

Thank you for your feedback Updated.
Could you post the link to the wiki thing you mentioned.

PS
Looking forward to see the final copy of this install guide
Don't be shy throw your comments eeverybody.

---

Geeklog Polish Support Team

http://wiki.geeklog.net/wiki/index.php/Pre-Installation_Checklist

On the other hand, I think its not necessary to refference to it. the user that installs the forum should have been able to edit lib_common already, therefore knowing about the issues of the editor.

Good point let's leave it as it is.

---

Geeklog Polish Support Team

Its imperative that the user get forum_2.3.1_1.3.9.zip. There are actually two revisions of 2.3.1. There is 2.3.1 and 2.3.1_1. It took me two months to figure that out! Version 2.3.1_1 should be renamed to 2.3.2 to save headaches.

Uh, I'd like to argue that point. When version 2.3 was in development earlier this year, there were several release candidates for testing and the file 2.3 release is file forum_2.3_1.3.9.zip which indicates the plugin_version_geeklogRelease. That file was released Mar 26.

I released a maintenance release on my site called version 2.3.1 and this file is forum_2.3.1_1.3.9 following the same standard file naming convention. It was released Jun 26th.

For the latest and update to date information you should always check out the plugin authors website. And most of all - members don't trust posts from anonymous members

---

Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com

Regarding plugin documentation: Have you seen this page here I wrote about how to install a plugin for the Geeklog Doc Project.

---

Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com

This is in no way intended as criticism...

Personally I found the instructions that Blaine provided with the forum to be pretty easy to follow, even though the forum was one of the first true plugins I ever installed.

Once you have installed a few plugins you realize that the process is pretty much the same.

It's just that simple.

OK I should have written earlier some intro why on earth I'm re-inventing the wheel
I find the generic and other install instructions fairly easy to follow however for some people it's not that obvious. So I came up with an idea of writing some instructions for beginners as they may have problems with following what is obvious for myself, you comicbookguy, and others.
I took Forum because it's the most popular plugin. I believe it's the first plugin everybody installs. That's why the first choice.
These guidelines would be like a framework for Beginners Guidelines for other plugins.
However looks like there's no need for such documentation so the further development has now officially been cancelled

---

Geeklog Polish Support Team

How do you know there is no need?

Like i said I was not trying to criticize your efforts. I was just commenting on the thread. Some people may in fact find your instructions easier to follow than the standard ones. I was just throwing in my two cents.

I have spent almost my whole career in documentation. I am a knowledge management specialist . I have had little trouble following the directions in most software and plugins, but most authors are too close the the project to be a good documentor. For instance. I did a completely new install of geeklog and a few plugins for a small alumni reunion site. I wanted to use the extended user information feature in the forum. Not a problem, it looked like all the appropriate files are in the package to enable the feature as written (no customization, just how I wanted to use it) so I followed the dir structure in the package and swapped out the files included, updated the database table using the file included but there are a few things that don't seem to jive.

The userupdate folder has 2 sub folders, language and public_html. There is no documentation on what to do with the english.txt file in the language folder. In the public_html folder there's 1 folder (layout) and 2 files. I ASSUMED users.php and usersettings.php were replacements for the 2 in the public_html folder. In the layout folder there are 2 other folders and 2 files. Now, on my installation (v2.3) these two files postsrow.thtml and profile.thtml are not in the layout folder nor are they in any of the sub folders in the layout dir. So I start hunting for these files, I didn't find them, yet my forum worked before, and if I turn on extended settings support now I guarantee it will not work because in my eyes the update is not finished. The 2 folders under the layout folder are preferences and users. There is a profile.thtml under each of those dirs so I ASSUMED once again they also were replacements for those in the installed structure. So am I also to ASSUME the postsrow.thtml and profile.thtml in the layout folder also goes in the root of my selected theme folder? What the hell do I do with the english.txt file I mentioned before? It's stuff like that, and there is a LOT of it in the various plugins and addons that causes many to get frustrated (myself included).

Authors, me included, tend to think that since they wrote the damn thing, they are the ones to document it. I always give my documentation to someone else to try out. They are to follow the directions verbatim and note anything that was not absolutely clear and that did not work or that raised questions. Then I fixed it and had them do it again.

Don't get me wrong, I love the products, I'll use them again but I think there needs to be better documentation that does not force the end user to make assumptions like these with out telling them they can make those assumptions. See?