[wtp-dev] Proposal to Develop WTP Web Site in CVS

[Arthur Ryman <ryman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bjorn,

I agree with your suggestion to move
the Web site to CVS. This would allow all committers to develop Web site
content and has the usual version control benefits of CVS. It also positions
us well to use our own tools to develop the Web site, especially when we
get servlet and JSP capability. 

Here is my proposal for doing this.
I have experience with XSLT and have already converted some content. I
have also done sites with site maps and generated navigation bars so I
am not suggesting anything that is not comon practice.

1. Create a single new CVS module. wtp-home,
to contain all Web content. 

2. Create a directory structure in wtp-dev
that mirrors the Eclipse Web server root so that we can access common content
like images and CSS via relative links. The root folder is /www.eclipse.org.
Copy this common Eclipse content into /www.eclipse.org so that pages display
correctly.  Our content begins at /www.eclipse.org/webtools. FYI,
for an example see the CVS module wtp-wst-dev.

3. Merge in the content from the CVS
modules wtp-wst-dev and wtp-jst-dev and eliminate then so that all content
is in a single CVS module.

4. Copy the existing content from WebDAV
into to CVS.

5. Establish the rule of NEVER directly
editing via WebDAV. Make all edits in CVS and then update via WebDAV. This
can be done manually at first and then automated via either a periodic
or on-demand job. We can use an Ant script to do this.

6. Vote in Christophe, Dominique, and
any other active contributor who has WebDAV access as committers so they
can continue to develop Web content.

7. Convert our Web content to XML and
use XSLT stylesheets to provide the Eclipse look and feel. This will greatly
simplify the markup and give the site a more uniform and professional look.
It will also make it easier to respond to changes in the Eclipse style.

8. Use an XML site map file to record
the structure of the site and to automatically generate navigation bars
and a site map page. This will let us easily rearrange the content to provide
better navigation. 

9. Eliminate the use of frames. Each
page will include the banners and navigation bars so that all pages have
direct URLs. This should also make the site more search engine friendly.

10. To start, use client-side XSLT.
However, if this causes performance or rendering problems, we can build
the site by applying the stylesheets and publish pure HTML. We will have
to build the site anyway when we include servlets (e.g. to compile the
servlets).

Arthur Ryman,
Rational Desktop Tools Development

phone: +1-905-413-3077, TL 969-3077
assistant: +1-905-413-2411, TL 969-2411
fax: +1-905-413-4920, TL 969-4920
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intranet: http://labweb.torolab.ibm.com/DRY6/