Joomla! 1.6 User Guide and Template Guide

One of our goals, as a network of Joomla! developers and site builders, is to strengthen our community voice so we are better able to help direct the project's future. The very best way to build voice in a free software community is to contribute to the project. Through our contributions, we provide value to the community and through those experiences, we collectively build common understanding about direction and priority. When we speak, we do so from a position of involvement, trust, and earned respect.

I want to draw your attention to the Joomla! 1.6 User Guide Group. The Joomla! community does not realize this yet, but very good things are coming their way! We are fortunate to have a very active and talented group of contributors gathering who have been discussing how best to ensure an awesome User Guide is available (hopefully) the day of release. Thanks to each of you working on this important effort.

Leaders emerge organically from what starts as chaos, and such has been the case with this User Guide effort. Tony Davis is a retired Information Technology geek with a rich history of Fortran, PL/1, and DB2. I can relate very well to Tony’s background and so, I know that he comes with a solid appreciation of the need for well defined processes and accurate, complete documentation. We are fortunate that Tony joined this effort, and is completely immersed in organizing the structure of the User Guide, with the guidance of Chris Davenport of the Joomla! Leadership Team.

I've watched a few serious contributors get involved with the project, and most of them show telltale signs very much like this comment Tony made:

Sorry for the avalanche. I am retired and live in the mountains of Switzerland where I take long walks each day. They are getting faster as I have to rush home to do a brain dump.

Poor guy. Joomla! got him! hehe! And, because of the work Tony and Chris are doing to organize this documentation effort, and because of the power of the Wiki to enable many of us to participate, and with our own desire to build our voice in this project, we can help make a User Guide available for Joomla! 1.6 launch. Now, think about that for just a moment. Isn’t that the way it should be? And, wouldn’t it say something very good about our community if we got behind this effort and made certain it happens?

Please find a way to help. You can get started by joining the Joomla! 1.6 User Guide Group or the Joomla! 1.6 Template Group. More instructions will follow at those locations. In advance, thanks!