[9fans] sources/contrib index

[9fans] sources/contrib index

[Uriel]

An index of the contents of sources/contrib and sources/extra can be
found in the wiki [Contrib index] page[1].

All directories in sources/contrib are indexed automatically, to add
comments to the contents of your contrib dir create an INDEX file with
entries of the format:

filename: Description

By default only the top directory is listed, but sub directories are
indexed if they contain an INDEX file.

The INDEX is rebuilt once a day with the script in
sources/contrib/uriel/contrindx

Also thanks to 20h we now have a full mirror of all sources/ which is
accessible over http[2](and 9p for 9grid.de users). Nashi and nemo have
mentioned they intend to setup more mirrors. For instructions about how
to setup a sources/ mirror see the [Mirrors] wiki page[3].

Again remind everyone to please upload your plan9-related software to
sources/contrib so it's easier to find software packages, and nothing
gets lost. That way your code will get mirrored automatically too.

[1] http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/Contrib_Index/
[2] http://www.9grid.de/magic/webls?dir=/sources
[3] http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/Mirrors/

Re: [9fans] sources/contrib index

[Russ Cox]

> [3] http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/Mirrors/

Here is an important tip for writing wiki pages:
   *** explain what the point is ***

This page is a perfect example of a bad page.
It is just a collection of links with no explanation
of why you might want to click on those links
or what the bigger context is.

There should always be a couple of sentences
at the top of the page explaining what's going on.
It makes a huge difference in the usability of
the page, especially if one is following a hyperlink
in an email or external server and has no context
at all.

The problem is not limited to the above page.
Many pages suffer from this problem.

I try to clean these up as I see them, but I don't
always have time.

Thanks.
Russ