the revamped DUB documentation I started a while ago is now deployed on https://dub.pm

A bunch of pages are still WIP, but the already done pages have a bunch of new information and should be better structured. I recommend giving the new documentation a try, maybe you will learn something new about DUB.

If you find anything to edit, the "Edit this Page" button makes it trivially easy - it's all standard markdown files now that are easily editable.

If you previously often looked at the recipe page that contained all the information in a single page, you will find most of the information on https://dub.pm/dub-reference/build_settings/ now and there are even more details on separate pages now.

The site's built-in search on the page works great and runs fully offline, try it out! It will find your search across the entire documentation. CLI documentation is now also included more similar to the man page format here.

On Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 21:35:34 UTC, WebFreak001 wrote:

IMO you have to many menus, you have menu bar across the top, left side menu, right side menu. So it's like you need to grep all three of them and how the are related to work out where you are.

A single table of contents type menu would be better IMO, a left sidebar that gives links to all the pages. It would make it a lot easier to understand where you are in the overall structure of the guide.

On Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 21:52:12 UTC, claptrap wrote:

Wouldn't it be too huge? 5 big separate sections, each has a list of articles, each article having a number of chapters, sub-chapters, sub-sub-chapters...

On Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 21:52:12 UTC, claptrap wrote:

the layout is standard from material for mkdocs and widely used in other projects, no plans on changing that for now, the experience is more efficient for when you get used to it too.

On Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 21:35:34 UTC, WebFreak001 wrote:

This is very much appreciated. A job well done!

-- Bastiaan.

The new DUB documentation feels less efficient for use. First impression: headache.

If the content is improved and refined, then yeah that's welcoming, a good thing and well done.

But overall use, it just feels like trying to be modern without being clever and usable.

I think the previous design was better, more user-friendly, even if looked worse.

Darker blending indistinct colors (dark red, dark background), way smaller fonts.

Gray headers on gray background.

The link colors are giving headaches too. But that might be only for me right now.

Also it's a good idea to maintain the same style as dlang forum and dlang website, along with dlang tour and online dlang editor. The dlang webdesign choice feels really solid and robust. At least from my perspective.

If someone needed a dark theme dub documentation. A simple button to toggle it would have been enough.

Small tweaks for layout and small tweaks overall for more professional look and efficiency of use. Would have been enough.

On Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 21:35:34 UTC, WebFreak001 wrote:

Thanks for this!

On Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 21:35:34 UTC, WebFreak001 wrote:

Limiting my comments to the "Getting Started" page, since that's obviously where new programmers will go first.

On the very first page, there are links to the DUB registry website and assorted man pages. You've just lost half the audience right there. The best possible outcome is that the user is confused but pushes on. It says "You can also skip ahead to First steps if you already have dub installed." How do they know if it's installed?

The first page has to be crystal clear. It can't have distractions or require knowledge of the installation status of this thing called "DUB".

The "First Steps" page is likely to be the last steps for many. It provides a CLI command and then shows a bunch of output from an interactive session with no explanation. That's followed by a brief discussion of directories and files. There's also mention of .gitignore, so I guess that means Git is required to use DUB. Then there's discussion of two formats, with no information on how to choose, or why it's important. That's followed by a presentation of configuration files with no explanation.

I wish I could be positive, but this doesn't move the needle. The two key ingredients for a getting started guide are examples and explanations, and both are missing.