Open Web Studio

I think OWS is a terrific idea, and has incredible potential, but as a project it needs a LOT of work. Right now it represents Open Source at it's absolute worst:

• Apparently only a small elite group has any real idea of what it's capable of and how it actually works.
• The documentation is practically nonexistent, and what there is isn't particularly useful.
• The web site itself seems at least 50% broken. Virtually every link in the Wiki (the primary "documentation") goes to the same page (every link is http://www.openwebstudion.com/Community/default.aspx?topic=topicname, but the topic name is apparently ignored).
• Many other links are also broken.
• The documentation, help, community, etc. links in the program itself don't work. All you get is the login screen, repeatedly.
• There's no downloadable, printable documentation. Many programmers, like me, enjoy kicking back and learning something new by reading PAPER documentation.
• There's no use online help.

Don't get me wrong, I think the concept is awesome, and what little I've been able to actually use of the program itself (basically a tiny modificaiton to the QuickBuilder Demo) is pretty amazing, but I'd love to be able to learn how to actually use OWS to it's fullest!

I came across listx about 18 months ago, just when we were trying to determine if DNN was a viable corporate intranet framework. Listx has gotten me out of a ton of jams (it has amazing abilities for building customizable snippets and even full miniapps), and honestly it's been the most useful tool I've used in the many years I've been doing development.

That said however, the Open Web Studio, while it is much more powerful, is even more cryptic on iniitial use (and listx had a decent curve to begin with). It has a number of concepts which are great and flexible, but very hard for people to grasp without good documentation and explanation. 

We will start using Open Web Studio and hopefully get competant at it, but I can imagine the huge struggle those of you who are just coming to this product are experiencing. The original product had resonable documentation (and much of it is still applicable in the new version), but the UI has changed so much it will be difficult for new users to utilize it properly.

Hopefully the docs and examples will get more plentiful, and they have talked about adding videos which would be beneficial as well. I hope they don't turn away more users, this product is really useful but I agree to this point this new website is lacking useful content so far. 

Hey guys, thanks for the info - it is very aware to us the lacking areas and we are hard at work transitioning content into the platform for help. A batch of videos are done, the full list that is coming is also provided. The Wiki area is being revamped due to a critical issue with the wiki module. It will be online shortly.

Congatulatons: The WIKI is finally useful and the Videos are a great help.
One question: when my desktop is otherwise occupied, I have made a point of logging in and making edits to the WIKI documentation -  not changing the essence, but correcting spelling, poor phrasing, inappropriate capitalization inaccurate terminolog and syntax errors (Yes: English has syntax rules, too!!) . I made a ton of corrections to the previous version, but I do not see those pages included on the current version.   Maybe I just have not found those pages in he new setup 

My goal has been to make the documentation less frustrating for others to wade through than the ListX docs were for me, as well as not face the same frustrations when I revisit a section of the docs.  I have begun the same process for some of the new WIKI pages, but my edits don't seem to "take".  How exactly does this work?

How are you modifying entries? I am getting to the WIKI with the following URL:

http://www.openwebstudio.com/Community/Wiki.aspx

This is a table of contents and all entries are links back to other openwebstudio.com pages that are not editable.

And many of the artiicles on the pages are cut off in midsentence.