Core documentation: Home>>create content

By presenting a valuable feature of the Book Module as the defining one, the documentation in core (and in the Handbook) hides the module's power and makes the module seem limited in a way it is not.

The core documentation says:

A book is a collaborative writing effort: users can
collaborate writing the pages of the book, positioning the
pages in the right order, and reviewing or modifying pages
previously written. So when you have some information to
share or when you read a page of the book and you didn't
like it, or if you think a certain page could have been
written better, you can do something about it.

My suggested revision:

A book is a set of pages tied together in sequence, with
links and menus (automatically created) to guide users from
section to section or to the previous page or the next.
Users can collaborate in writing the book, reviewing or
modifying the pages, and putting them in the right order. So
when you have something to share, or you've read a page you
didn't like or you think could be better, you can do something
about it.

Or, shorter (and therefore better):

A book is a set of pages tied together in sequence, with
links and menus (automatically created) to guide users from
section to section or to the previous page or the next.
Users can collaborate in writing the book, reviewing or
modifying the pages, and putting them in the right order.

A book may be collaborative but doesn't have to be. I can write a one-man book that no one else can modify. Or, for that matter, with the right permissions I can collaborate on a story or a page. The ability to allow or disallow limited or unlimited collaboration is a Drupal feature from top to bottom. (Put that last line in lights and send it to the marketing team.)

When I first came upon Drupal I saw the "collaborative book module" touted as its outstanding feature-- but it seemed an odd one, and for my one-man site likely irrelevant. Perhaps for literary geeks experimenting with a multi-author novel?

Both for informing and for marketing, the docs here deserve to be fixed.

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Going a bit further, here's what I'd do to the whole page:

Home

create content
Choose an item from the list:

book page
A book is a set of pages tied together in sequence, with links and menus (automatically created) to guide users from section to section or to the previous page or the next. Users can collaborate in writing the book, reviewing or modifying the pages, and putting them in the right order.

page
If you want to add a static page, like a contact page or an about page, use a page.

story
Stories are articles in their simplest form. They have a title, a body, and (taken from the body) a teaser. You can also use stories for a blog or for news articles.