Last updated June 5, 2012.
This is a list of tasks we need to do on a regular basis to have the documentation on Drupal.org well maintained.
Rolling comments into the documentation
Where people have added comments to documentation pages with corrections or extra information about the topic, take the information from the comments and incorporate them into the body of the page. Edit them as appropriate. You should then file an issue requesting that the comments be deleted. Be sure your issue request includes a link to the node/page you are changing.
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Section review
Pick a section of the documentation and read it from start to end. Look out for problems such as places where information is unclear, where more detail or screenshots are needed, where the order of sections could be improved. Make the changes that you feel you are able to tackle yourself, or otherwise file an issue.
Documenting Terminology
While reading through the documentation, forum posts, or comments, you may find Drupal jargon or common English expressions and acronyms that may not be familiar to non-native English speakers. Take note and if they're not present in the Glossary, add them.
Issue queue cleanup
Go to the documentation issue queue and browse through the issues. Some may not be applicable or are obsolete (close them), or filed in the wrong component (move them). Others may be simple tasks such as corrections that you can tackle right away. If an issue is assigned to someone, they have taken responsibility for seeing it through, but feedback and help will always be appreciated.
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Adding screenshots
Screenshots, used in moderation, can help make documentation clearer and easier to follow. If you are using a documentation page that you feel would be improved by a screenshot, you can add one (see the screenshot guidelines page for more information).
Documentation from Forum topics
Frequently repeated forum posts are a good indication the topic needs a documentation page. After you create the page, add links from the forum entries to the new page. If you don't have time to make the forum thread into a documentation page, add an issue explaining what needs to be done.
Review pages by status
You can review documentation pages by status to see a list that needs attention. The best way to find pages marked as needing attention is on the Documentation status/management page (you will need to log in to see that page). On that page, you can filter by page status, such as Incomplete or Needs copy/style review, to find pages that others have marked as needing attention. Pick one and fix it!
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Move outdated documentation to Archive book
If information is very outdated and cannot be updated anymore to reflect modern versions of Drupal, the page can be moved into the Archive book structure. Do this as follows:
- Edit the page.
- Scroll down to the "book outline" section.
- Choose "Archive" as the top-level book.
- Change the page title to "ARCHIVED: [former title]"
- Add a log message like "Archived this very outdated content".
- Save the page.
Other tasks
- There are patches for Drupal core that just need to have a text review to make sure they are readable.
- On the Documentation status/management page (log in to see it), you can sort by Last Updated time (click on the column heading), to see a list of recently changed documentation pages. Scanning this list often will help you keep tabs on what's new, review new documentation, and also help remove any spam.