I am currently working on a few different Open Source projects.

Ubuntu Packaging Guide
- Document Structure (Information Architecture)
I am working with the team to evaluate the best way to reorganize the packaging guide content to be more useful for end users than it is currently. The packaging guide is currently available as a single large document called "The Complete Packaging Guide". This complete guide is in wiki format and is made up of includes of many sections. I have proposed a new structure - an introduction section, an advanced section and individual wiki pages for even more advanced details of tools discussed in the advanced section.

- Advanced Section Edit
I have started reviewing the Advanced sections of the existing Ubuntu Packaging Guide. I hope to reorganize the sections to be more useful, edit the language to be more user friendly, and, finally, edit the technical content to ensure accuracy (meaning test and verify!).

Spaz API Documentation
Spaz is a Twitter client built on Adobe AIR that requires API documentation so other developers can get involved with extending and contributing to it.

Mozilla XUL Documentation
- Introduction to XUL
The Introduction to XUL article on the MDC wiki is out of date and needs to be edited for content and technical accuracy. Furthermore, the writing style needs a lot of cleaning up.

I found this entertaining article for developers discussing the challenges of documenting code. Reading it really takes me back to a variety of situations I've been in! How many times have I worked with developers, only to be told how "self-documenting" their code is... only, of course, to find out that they just mean comments. And of course, they didn't comment everything. "Oh that's not important, anyone can figure that out by looking at it." Or my favorite response when I stumble up on something particularly interesting, "Gee I don't know why I wrote that."

Commenting code and documenting code, while related, are two different things. Comments make documenting easy, but comments can never substitute for good documentation :) Providing good documentation in your code makes the results of automated tools that generate API documentation skeletons more useful. While those tools make API documentation easier, you can't solely rely on them as your only source. Granted it's better than nothing, but if you really want people to learn and develop with your API, there is no better time investment than comprehensive API documentation, including code samples and tutorials.

Here is a list of resources I have found to be particularly helpful:

• This blog offers a great list of resources and advice for developing API documentation.
• The API Writer entry in Wikipedia is also very insightful.
• This study makes a wonderful checklist when evaluating API documentation.

In the open source community, good developer documentation increases the chances of a project being picked up and maintained by the community. Meaning, the developer can focus on making those shiny new features and hand off supporting the old rusty stuff!

I have moved from building my own Flex-based website to Weebly. I have had a lot of fun tinkering with Flex, but Weebly is a lot easier to maintain. The interface is simple to use and I can make updates to my site quickly. Additionally, I can easily host multimedia content (like an online portfolio) by dragging and dropping components. All around, it's less time spent on reinventing the wheel. I'll save the heavy code tinkering for my day job ;)

I did a session on IRC for the Ubuntu Documentation Project team regarding the writing process. When it comes to documentation, the writing is the easy part. The most challenging part of documenting anything is determining what and how to document!

Here is an outline of what I discussed:

1. Overview
2. Define the Goal of the Document
3. Define Use Cases
4. Define the Audience
5. Research Common Issues and Questions
6. Propose an Outline
7. Submit to Doc Team
8. When to Begin Writing
9. Writing Tips

You can read my full presentation here.