Re: New LilyPond website

[Gerdau, Michael]

> My css file is a proposed inclusion into the website.

John, may I kindly asked you to start trimming your responses to this list?

You always top post, write a line or two then followed by a large amount of
text, most of which has little to do with what you just wrote.

For illustration purposes I left the stuff below as is - however it is unrelated
and I normally would have deleted it.

Thank you for your consideration,
Michael

> On Thu, Dec 1, 2016 at 12:44 PM, Carl Sorensen <address@hidden> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On 11/30/16 6:53 PM, "Paul" <address@hidden> wrote:
> >
> >>On 11/30/2016 08:01 PM, John Roper wrote:
> >>
> >>> Why is the website auto generated? What content is auto generated or
> >>> is it just setup that way so that it is always built to the latest
> >>> version for releases?
> >
> > By having the website auto generated, we never need to change the website
> > when we have a new release.  We only need to change the website when we
> > specifically want to change something about the website.  This
> > dramatically minimizes the amount of time spent on maintaining the website.
> >
> >>
> >>Others can probably give better answers, as this is kind of second hand
> >>based on past discussions... but the website is basically an appendage
> >>to the (much larger) documentation, and, well let me quote
> >>
> >>https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/
> >>
> >>-------------------
> >>Texinfo is the official documentation format of the GNU project. It was
> >>invented by Richard Stallman and Bob Chassell many years ago, loosely
> >>based on Brian Reid's Scribe and other formatting languages of the time.
> >>It is used by many non-GNU projects as well.
> >>
> >>Texinfo uses a single source file to produce output in a number of
> >>formats, both online and printed (dvi, html, info, pdf, xml, etc.). This
> >>means that instead of writing different documents for online information
> >>and another for a printed manual, you need write only one document. And
> >>when the work is revised, you need revise only that one document. The
> >>Texinfo system is well-integrated with GNU Emacs.
> >>-------------------
> >
> > One thing that is note mentioned in your quote is that texinfo separates
> > semantics from appearance.  It is this precise separation that allows one
> > to make big but consistent changes in the appearance of the website with
> > changes in the CSS.  I'm a firm believer in the principle of separating
> > semantics from presentation (and we do that with LilyPond, by the way,
> > which is one of its strengths IMO).
> >
> >>
> >>So using texinfo to produce the documentation in info, pdf, html formats
> >>etc. is then also used for the website.  I think that's the main reason,
> >>but it's also tied up with supporting multiple translations of the
> >>docs/website and how building the docs runs LilyPond to generate all of
> >>the images for the examples, etc.  Also the argument is that having one
> >>system for docs and website is simpler and makes maintenance easier,
> >>especially with fewer contributors, etc.  That's the gist of past
> >>discussions.
> >>
> >>I think there's a case for decoupling the website from the documentation
> >>to a greater degree, e.g. as Federico argued earlier in the thread, but
> >>based on past discussions I am not optimistic that this would go as far
> >>as not using texinfo.  (But I've often wondered how important is it for
> >>the content of the website to be available in pdf and info formats.)
> >
> > I don't think that there is any need for the website to be available in
> > pdf and info.  But IMO there is a huge need for the website to
> > presentation to be auto-generated from a semantic text description.  I
> > don't care how beautiful the new website is, if it requires a webmaster to
> > continually update the pages (including in all of the languages we have),
> > it's not a step forward.  It would be setting up the website for bitrot.
> >
> >>
> >>Upgrading to the latest version of texi2any[0] and/or using Haunt would
> >>help, but those are non-trivial endeavors.  The current setup certainly
> >>introduces friction for website work, especially for those who are used
> >>to working directly with HTML.
> >
> > I believe that we want to avoid working directly with HTML because of its
> > mixture of semantics and presentation.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Carl
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> John Roper
> Freelance Developer and Simulation Artist
> Boston, MA USA
> http://jmroper.com/
> 
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--
Michael Gerdau       email: address@hidden
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