Wiki feedback - firmware upgrade instructions

hairy_kiwi

Having only once previously upgraded my DuetWifi and Wifi Server firmwares + DWC and not having touched my new machine for six weeks due to other commitments, I'm finding getting back up to speed surprisingly slow-going - and the wiki surprisingly unhelpful in terms of, for example, helping remind me of such critical info as the required firmware upgrade order.

From a recent post in the thread Board cannot update firmware

@Dougal1957:

The WiKi does explicitly state the order of upgrade is Duet Fw followed by WiFi Server followed by DWC.

Thanks for the reminder Dougal1957 - but I couldn't actually find the upgrade order stated explicitly in either the following wiki pages:
https://duet3d.com/wiki/Updating_WiFi_firmware_or_DuetWebControl_files
https://duet3d.com/wiki/Updating_main_firmware

perhaps implicitly, but not explicitly.

I know when you're in the groove performing regular updates to a system, the clarity of instructions at the Getting Started level is easily overlooked - and its value potentially easily dismissed, but I would like to encourage that the wiki guide is reviewed in this respect, perhaps even periodically.

One last point: the term "Backup procedure" (as used in the last link above) results in a title possibly not as clear as it could be. I understand the implied meaning, however as the 'Backup procedures' mentioned do not actually lead to the firmware being backed up according to the commonly understood meaning of the word 'backup', especially for non-native English speakers, a more descriptive term to use in those headings might be 'Alternate' procedures. Just to highlight the situation, searching the net for "DuetWifi Firmware backup" leads to that page but (of course) not to any info about how to actually back up DuetWifi firmwares - currently an entirely manual process.

Please accept the above as constructive criticism - and feel free to point out the webpage where the firmware upgrade order is explicitly stated; perhaps I just overlooked it.

Thank you, dc42 and T3DP3D for an otherwise awesome product and support forum.

dc42

Thank you for your valuable feedback. I have added text to explain the proper sequence for updating multiple firmware/software components, and changed "Backup" to "Fallback". I hope users will find this clearer.

hairy_kiwi

"Fallback" is the perfect term - nice one

Thanks too for adding the info: Updating more than one firmware at a time

The new info actually took a little finding - only because I hadn't thought to revisit the Wiki Home page (in a while) relying instead on saved links to 'the important stuff'. As such though, I wonder if a flatter structure to some of the wiki sections might make it a little less time-consuming to navigate, and important info less-easily overlooked, especially as the wiki doesn't seem to load particularly quickly. Not urgent, perhaps not necessary, but food for thought.

T3P3Tony

Thanks for the feedback. I will consider how to restructure the documentation to make it easier to navigate - the Wiki has grown a lot over the last few months, maybe the frontpage/table of contents layout is not the best.. Any thoughts on alternative structures?

Also you mention it loads slowly - is that all ages or just the front page?

hairy_kiwi

@T3P3Tony:

Thanks for the feedback. I will consider how to restructure the documentation to make it easier to navigate - the Wiki has grown a lot over the last few months, maybe the frontpage/table of contents layout is not the best.. Any thoughts on alternative structures?

Also you mention it loads slowly - is that all ages or just the front page?

Hi Tony, the slow loading issue no longer exists today. I'm not sure if it could have been a result of your server load or simply my overloaded PC yesterday, with many tabs open in Chrome.

Regarding the wiki structure, hopefully there are some lurking web interface gurus who can share their expertise - burtoogle for one, perhaps, and at least another MS tech writer I've seen lurking here - whose handle I forget, sorry In the meantime I found some good introductory guidance at Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Summary_style

As a case in point, I like the fact I can read much more on that one page. I'm not suggesting that structure is appropriate for all the Duet Wiki pages, but an ideal in terms of making it quicker to skim read to ensure all pertinent information is obtained (in order to prevent or at least reduce possibility of equipment damage, or seemingly-going-round-in-circles type frustration).
The following section in that wikipedia page seems to provide a good overview on balancing page size and detail:
1 Rationale
1.1 Article size
1.2 Levels of detail

Youtube seems a little lacking on the subject, but I did find this informative though slightly slow-paced webinar: https://youtu.be/wwi8s5VdHH0

I only have a couple of thoughts from my experience of the Duet wiki that might be of interest:
If keeping the same contents system, navigation might be improved by adding contents navigation to each subsection - to remind the reader what else exists under that particular heading - and to avoid the round trip back to the contents (Home) page.

Where a subsection contains only a paragraph, for example: https://duet3d.com/wiki/Prerequisites_for_using_the_Duet_WiFi
It would ultimately be quicker - and just as manageable as far as assimilating info - to read that as part of a longer piece of text. I didn't check out the entirety of that section, but I wonder if it could be completely flattened into a single page?