Dave Reynolds wrote:
On Fri, 2011-02-18 at 00:36 +0000, Paolo Castagna wrote:
Ian Dickinson wrote:
Hi Paolo,
I think we are getting there, please, Ian share your final structure
with us.
The mock-up I'm working on is more about website architecture than
content. Specifically, the current Apache CMS documentation is silent on
techniques for building larger, more complex sites (without using mvn
site or Apache Forrest). The standard site template that's suggested by
the CMS documentation uses a simple compile-time server-side include
mechanism to, for example, factor out the navigation menu. This is a
good idea for keeping the navigation menu in one place, hence minimising
maintenance cost as the IA changes, but is a bad idea for managing the
complexity seen by the user for a large site.
I joined the site-dev email list at Apache, and asked questions about
this, but have so far received no response.
What I'm working on is a compromise solution that uses the navigation
SSI as suggested, should play nice with the Apache CMS wiki bookmarklet,
and uses progressive-enhancement ideas to provide a good user experience
on JavaScript enabled clients, but will also provide something workable
in non-JS environments and therefore meets accessibility guidelines.
In part the question I'm trying to answer is: can we have a convenient
three, or even four, level navigation hierarchy that plays well with the
Apache CMS. The answer to that will help us determine how flat or deep
the IA for the site can be. It's somewhat orthogonal to the current
debate on content focii.
Perhaps, there is no need for a complex and deep hierarchy.
Perhaps, the first level or global navigation is not going to change
so often and it's not a big deal to manage it manually if it's about
four or five pages only (i.e. About, Download, Getting Started,
Documentation, Getting Involved).
Perhaps, we could come up with a simple pattern and be consistent
with it to help users to find things, for example:
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/getting-started
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/documentation
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/tutorial
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/javadoc
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/arq/getting-started
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/arq/documentation
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/arq/tutorial
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/arq/javadoc
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/tdb/getting-started
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/tdb/documentation
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/tdb/tutorial
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/tdb/javadoc
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/inference/getting-started
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/inference/documentation
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/inference/tutorial
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/ontology/getting-started
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/ontology/documentation
http://incubator.apache.org/jena/ontology/tutorial
-1
I can't see how a complete flat navigation structure exposing all
details of internal structure of Jena at the top level can possibly help
either beginners or developers.
This also seems at odds with the structure you proposed in a separate
message and certainly at odds with the discussion on the cross-cutting
nature of tutorials and getting-started material.
It's a symptom of the difficulties in deciding between a first level
structure which reflect the needs and type of users and a first level
structure which reflect (as Brian said) the fact that Jena is made by
different components.
I still think that we could find a simple pattern which satisfy us
and be consistent with it.
Do you have an alternative?
What do you think about:
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/documentation/jena|api
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/documentation/arq
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/documentation/tdb
- ...
... and would you do the same for "Download" and "Getting Started"?
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/download/jena|api
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/download/arq
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/download/tdb
- ...
Or, we could have a mixed approach:
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/about/
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/download/
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/getting-started/
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/documentation/jena|api
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/documentation/arq
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/documentation/tdb
- http://incubator.apache.org/jena/getting-involved/
In this case, we manage the multiple modules in the textual description
of the /about/, /download/ and /getting-started/ pages, since the content
there is not as much as for the /documentation/.
What do you think?
Paolo
Dave
