http://d-programming-language.org/ 404 & small proposal

Dec 10, 2010

Andrej Mitrovic

Dec 10, 2010

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The D website is 404'ing for the library page: http://d-programming-language.org/phobos/phobos.html And I've had an idea to make the documentation website a little easier to navigate. Here's what the docs look like with their old design: http://imgur.com/8Vdrj.jpg Now, that's quite a mess to look at. The text isn't aligned or anything so it doesn't look that good, and you can't really tell which of those names are functions, class definitions or enums, etc. So I just quickly sketched out what I'd like to see instead: http://imgur.com/0lufR.jpg Disregard the off coloring, font sizes, and my general lack of design skills please :). The main point is to put the links in a table so they're aligned and easier to browse, and maybe even categorize all the names by their type (functions/enums/etc). I'm pretty sure adding a table is trivial, but I don't know if we can automatically categorize all the names and put them in separate tables. Thoughts?

"Andrej Mitrovic" <andrej@none.net> wrote in message news:ids8s6$21gm$1@digitalmars.com... > > And I've had an idea to make the documentation website a little easier to navigate. Here's what the docs look like with their old design: > > http://imgur.com/8Vdrj.jpg > > Now, that's quite a mess to look at. The text isn't aligned or anything so it doesn't look that good, and you can't really tell which of those names are functions, class definitions or enums, etc. > > So I just quickly sketched out what I'd like to see instead: > > http://imgur.com/0lufR.jpg > > Disregard the off coloring, font sizes, and my general lack of design skills please :). The main point is to put the links in a table so they're aligned and easier to browse, and maybe even categorize all the names by their type (functions/enums/etc). > > I'm pretty sure adding a table is trivial, but I don't know if we can automatically categorize all the names and put them in separate tables. > > Thoughts? > vote++

Add this to the <head> section of the website: <style> #quickindex b:first-child { display: block; } #quickindex a { display: inline-block; min-width: 160px; border: solid 1px #cccccc; margin-top: 4px; } </style> Tweak a little maybe but you'll end up with something like this: http://arsdnet.net/dtbl.png The CSS is just a slightly simpler approach than messing with the javascript or html itself and can be made good enough with virtually zero effort.

On 12/9/10 8:04 PM, Andrej Mitrovic wrote: > The D website is 404'ing for the library page: > > http://d-programming-language.org/phobos/phobos.html > > And I've had an idea to make the documentation website a little easier to navigate. Here's what the docs look like with their old design: > > http://imgur.com/8Vdrj.jpg > > Now, that's quite a mess to look at. The text isn't aligned or anything so it doesn't look that good, and you can't really tell which of those names are functions, class definitions or enums, etc. > > So I just quickly sketched out what I'd like to see instead: > > http://imgur.com/0lufR.jpg > > Disregard the off coloring, font sizes, and my general lack of design skills please :). The main point is to put the links in a table so they're aligned and easier to browse, and maybe even categorize all the names by their type (functions/enums/etc). > > I'm pretty sure adding a table is trivial, but I don't know if we can automatically categorize all the names and put them in separate tables. > > Thoughts? > Very nice initiative. I'm not sure how we can implement that easy without considerable effort; currently, the list is generated with Javascript using a flat list. To generate a more structured list, the programmer would need to insert appropriate cues in the documentation. Andrei

December 10, 2010

Re: http://d-programming-language.org/ 404 & small proposal

Posted by Jonathan M Davis
in reply to Andrej Mitrovic

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Jonathan M Davis

Posted in reply to Andrej Mitrovic

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On Thursday 09 December 2010 20:04:22 Andrej Mitrovic wrote:
> The D website is 404'ing for the library page:
> 
> http://d-programming-language.org/phobos/phobos.html
> 
> And I've had an idea to make the documentation website a little easier to navigate. Here's what the docs look like with their old design:
> 
> http://imgur.com/8Vdrj.jpg
> 
> Now, that's quite a mess to look at. The text isn't aligned or anything so it doesn't look that good, and you can't really tell which of those names are functions, class definitions or enums, etc.
> 
> So I just quickly sketched out what I'd like to see instead:
> 
> http://imgur.com/0lufR.jpg
> 
> Disregard the off coloring, font sizes, and my general lack of design skills please :). The main point is to put the links in a table so they're aligned and easier to browse, and maybe even categorize all the names by their type (functions/enums/etc).
> 
> I'm pretty sure adding a table is trivial, but I don't know if we can automatically categorize all the names and put them in separate tables.
> 
> Thoughts?

I think that most people want something similar to that. I think that the real issue is that someone has to sit down and do it. IIRC Yao G. had something going but hadn't gotten working all the way yet.

At some point, we do need something that shows all of the module functions separate from the types in the function and the member functions associated with each type with the type rather than mixed in with the module functions.

What you show seems reasonable (aside from the fact that most of what you list as functions are types, but I assume that that's because it's a mock up), and it would definitely be an improvement. I think what many people would like to see would be a collapsible tree of some kind, but what you show is definitely better than what we currently have, and presumably it would be easier to do.

- Jonathan M Davis

On 12/10/10, Jonathan M Davis <jmdavisProg@gmx.com> wrote: > What you show seems reasonable (aside from the fact that most of what you > list > as functions are types, but I assume that that's because it's a mock up), Haha, yeah I made one table and then got lazy and copy-pasted the rest. Guilty. > would be a collapsible tree of some kind, but what you show is definitely > better > than what we currently have, and presumably it would be easier to do. > > - Jonathan M Davis > We should stick with making smaller improvements over time on the site itself. D is lacking manpower as it is so we shouldn't have to waste a lot of time on design issues.

On Thursday 09 December 2010 21:03:53 Andrej Mitrovic wrote: > On 12/10/10, Jonathan M Davis <jmdavisProg@gmx.com> wrote: > > What you show seems reasonable (aside from the fact that most of what you > > list > > as functions are types, but I assume that that's because it's a mock up), > > Haha, yeah I made one table and then got lazy and copy-pasted the rest. Guilty. > > > would be a collapsible tree of some kind, but what you show is definitely > > better > > than what we currently have, and presumably it would be easier to do. > > > > - Jonathan M Davis > > We should stick with making smaller improvements over time on the site itself. D is lacking manpower as it is so we shouldn't have to waste a lot of time on design issues. I see no problem with that. I do think that we should be striving for the best design that we can, but incremental improvements are just fine. I just thought that I'd point out what people have generally been looking for. Making it like what you suggested would be a definite improvement though, regardless of whether we end up with some sort of collapsible tree later. The fact that we have so little manpower is a big part of why changes haven't been made already, so it's definitely a valid point. - Jonathan M Davis

On 12/10/10 12:38 AM, duckett wrote: > I don't know JavaScript but I've managed to make it look similar if it > helps. Methods for classes and structs don't show. > > http://imgur.com/rfRUc.jpg Looks interesting, could you please share the code in a bugzilla enhancement report? And welcome aboard! Andrei

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