User:Sfws: Difference between revisions
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I have taken an interest in learning about weather since I was a child, and used various instruments over my life. Eventually I bought a Fine Offset, and subsequently discovered Cumulus. At that time I had a public web site, and was trying to use it to share some photos with friends, (before social media provided that functionality). |
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Taken some interest in weather all my life, just as hobby. |
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Started using Cumulus in 2011 when I had a public web site, and thought the Web Pages Steve and Beth Loft used, together with "Sunny Weather" by Jacques DesRoches, would be fun to experiment with. |
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Experimenting with the Web Pages Steve and Beth Loft used, together with "Sunny Weather" by Jacques DesRoches, helped me to learn enough HTML and CSS to write my own web pages, and create a slideshow of photos, that I changed on a monthly basis. |
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Back then I was labelled a "Silly Fool with a Weather Station", hence I registered as SFWS to complete documentation of Steve Loft's Cumulus software (1.7.x to 1.9.4). '''Previous contributors had left messages where pages needed more work''' to finish off documentation of what is now the legacy software, so I followed that guidance. The trouble was, this created long and complicated pages, so I knew the old structure was doomed, and I started to split pages to improve the structure. |
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To thank Steve Loft for his work on Cumulus, I registered as an ordinary Wiki contributor. Most of my contributions involved copying Steve's text scattered around many posts in the forum into places in the Wiki thus making it easier to find his guidance. '''Previous contributors had left messages where pages needed more work''' to finish off documentation of what is now the legacy software, so I followed that guidance. I kept to the structure created by David Jamieson, Steve Loft, Mark Crossley, and others, which related to the structure adopted by the Cumulus help. With hindsight, this was a mistake as it made pages long and complicated. |
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Other contributors later adapted 3 pages for '''beta MX'''. It has to be stressed beta MX offered '''a subset of 1.9.4 functionality'''. Most of the existing documentation remained valid, and I continued to focus on what I knew, documenting the legacy software I used. |
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Steve Loft later adapted just 4 pages for his '''beta MX'''of 2015 to 2018. It has to be stressed beta MX offered '''a small subset of 1.9.4 functionality''' so very few people used it, and there was no need for any documentation beyond that from Steve Loft. When Steve Loft decided to abandon Cumulus in 2018, it was initially thought that the support forum would close down, so Mark Crossley copied key posts by Steve Loft about MX into this Wiki. |
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#MX then diverged so much from the legacy Cumulus, that trying to adapt legacy pages to cover MX too was wrong. |
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#In early 2020, more people still used the legacy Cumulus than had adopted MX, so the existing documentation remained critical |
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#I suggested a new Wiki structure was needed, designed for those who had never used the legacy software, but needed to understand how MX worked. |
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#I will never use much of MX functionality, so I made a plea for people, with MX experience, to contribute the new pages. |
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Since 2019, Mark Crossley has been developing MX. MX has developed very fast, and diverged totally from the legacy Cumulus. Lots of people were now using MX, but none of them bothered to contribute to this Wiki, although many would condemn it for its focus on the legacy software. |
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In case, the lack of a MX specific structure was putting contributors off, I did work through Wiki creating a new MX specific structure, and identifying places where update needed. After all, this reflected how my input started, taking cues from previous contributors. |
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In mid 2020, I started using MX, and on my own tried to start the Wiki coverage of MX, but it was changing too rapidly and I soon gave up, the Wiki stayed at a mixture of 1.9.4, 3.0.0. and 3.6.0 on different pages for the rest of 2020, as nobody else chipped in. |
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I knew I could not keep up with rapid development of MX since Mark became lead developer, but I expected others would chip in. |
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At the start of 2021, I was one of several people suggesting the Wiki needed a new structure. The only response was to give me admin rights to this Wiki, leaving me to do the restructure on my own. |
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'''My plea was ignored, instead I was given admin access'''. With that, it became quicker to rewrite complete pages, to split off content making smaller pages, to separate out legacy documentation and MX documentation, to update links, and to redesign the Main Page (that previously had a single link specific to MX) so it now had multiple MX links. |
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I use only a tiny part of MX functionality, so there is a lot I do not understand, and it needs other contributors to fill in the rest. By mid 2021, MX has changed so much again that most of my earlier work has had to be deleted and redone. I have locked several 1.9.4 pages, left some 3.0.0 pages, and tried to bring the 3.6.0 pages up to 3.12.0. Meanwhile, the forum remains critical of me, so I am now abandoning Cumulus, leaving the Wiki in a better state, but without any contributor to take over. My new structure makes it easier for others, without admin rights, to create new pages to document MX, so my work is done. |
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My new structure makes it easier for others, without admin rights, to create new pages to document MX, so my work is done. |
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Revision as of 05:42, 20 August 2021
I have taken an interest in learning about weather since I was a child, and used various instruments over my life. Eventually I bought a Fine Offset, and subsequently discovered Cumulus. At that time I had a public web site, and was trying to use it to share some photos with friends, (before social media provided that functionality).
Experimenting with the Web Pages Steve and Beth Loft used, together with "Sunny Weather" by Jacques DesRoches, helped me to learn enough HTML and CSS to write my own web pages, and create a slideshow of photos, that I changed on a monthly basis.
To thank Steve Loft for his work on Cumulus, I registered as an ordinary Wiki contributor. Most of my contributions involved copying Steve's text scattered around many posts in the forum into places in the Wiki thus making it easier to find his guidance. Previous contributors had left messages where pages needed more work to finish off documentation of what is now the legacy software, so I followed that guidance. I kept to the structure created by David Jamieson, Steve Loft, Mark Crossley, and others, which related to the structure adopted by the Cumulus help. With hindsight, this was a mistake as it made pages long and complicated.
Steve Loft later adapted just 4 pages for his beta MXof 2015 to 2018. It has to be stressed beta MX offered a small subset of 1.9.4 functionality so very few people used it, and there was no need for any documentation beyond that from Steve Loft. When Steve Loft decided to abandon Cumulus in 2018, it was initially thought that the support forum would close down, so Mark Crossley copied key posts by Steve Loft about MX into this Wiki.
Since 2019, Mark Crossley has been developing MX. MX has developed very fast, and diverged totally from the legacy Cumulus. Lots of people were now using MX, but none of them bothered to contribute to this Wiki, although many would condemn it for its focus on the legacy software.
In mid 2020, I started using MX, and on my own tried to start the Wiki coverage of MX, but it was changing too rapidly and I soon gave up, the Wiki stayed at a mixture of 1.9.4, 3.0.0. and 3.6.0 on different pages for the rest of 2020, as nobody else chipped in.
At the start of 2021, I was one of several people suggesting the Wiki needed a new structure. The only response was to give me admin rights to this Wiki, leaving me to do the restructure on my own.
I use only a tiny part of MX functionality, so there is a lot I do not understand, and it needs other contributors to fill in the rest. By mid 2021, MX has changed so much again that most of my earlier work has had to be deleted and redone. I have locked several 1.9.4 pages, left some 3.0.0 pages, and tried to bring the 3.6.0 pages up to 3.12.0. Meanwhile, the forum remains critical of me, so I am now abandoning Cumulus, leaving the Wiki in a better state, but without any contributor to take over. My new structure makes it easier for others, without admin rights, to create new pages to document MX, so my work is done.
