BTW, if you’re not aware: you can easily print any forum topic as a pdf. Try pressing Ctrl + P right now.
Nice, huh?
So another way of going about this would be to actually use the forum as your editor when writing the manual. The downside would be that the entire manual would have to be in a single topic (though it could still consist of many posts) and that topic would then obviously restricted for posting by staff only so that users would not be able to comment by replying directly on a specific post. But, as I think of it, maybe that is not such a big problem after all because:
- they can still quote any part of the manual with ease
- the manual topic may be much more accessible because you only see the manual (and are not distracted by comments and questions)
- When you are reading the manual topic you will still see links under each post, indicating if there has been any discussion on that part of the manual
I guess I don’t need to explain the huge advantages this way of working would have for keeping the manual updated…
@kees-z, I can hear you thinking: why are you telling me that now that I have written the bloody thing in a text editor? (At least that is what I would think.) So if you want to transfer the manual to a topic, I’m offering my assistance in moving everything over. (In that case, please send me the non-pdf version of the text)