[sword-devel] Announcing FireBible 0.5.1 - GPLed Firefox font-end

[Chris Little]

DM Smith wrote:
> I agree. The page should reflect a clear, dual personality. One for  
> users, the other for developers, as you have listed it.
> 
> And the users should be put first. This would be a listing of the  
> major applications, with platform icons, and directions/links to those  
> projects. I say "applications" because I think BibleTool and  
> FlashCards should go here.

The big problem with the main CrossWire page ATM is that it's just too 
long due to the presence of dead, unaffiliated, and minor projects. I 
imagine I'll keep a similar but compacted format the same, with 2 sections:

Featured Site (no change there)
Users (shortened blurbs with links for each of...)
	BibleCS
	GnomeSword
	BibleTime
	MacSword
	Bible Desktop
	BibleTool
	Flashcards
	Sword for PPC(maybe?)
	a link into the main Sword pages for Modules & for the other 				frontends

I don't think there's need for any developer-oriented material on the 
main page. There's already a link to a Volunteers & Developers page 
(which needs some serious pruning and a few additions itself).

> I don't see the point in the page being a jsp, unless it serves up  
> something dynamic. Does it?

The JSPs are used throughout the CrossWire & Sword pages chiefly for 
maintaining consistent look & navigation links throughout each section.

Like in the Sword pages, the CrossWire pages bring in the header (with 
menus) and footer via JSP includes.

> Much of the crosswire.org pages are old and need of updating. I'd like  
> to see all the developer pages moved to the wiki and the old pages  
> replaced with redirects. One that can be done right now is the "module  
> making" page, http://www.crosswire.org/sword/develop/swordmodule. All  
> of it is reproduced in the wiki and up to date (the old page is out of  
> date).

How did you find the page? The main link to it has pointed to the Wiki 
for a month or so. (I did just find another link to the old page, but 
that's on a page that needs complete revision.) I don't think any links 
to it still exist on the Sword site, but I know there are some external 
links so I'll put a forward in.

> What if the "sidebar" were changed to have one set of entries for  
> users and one set for developers.

I just find the sidebar annoying since it's so long that the search box 
is shifted down below the first page, requiring scrolling for access.

The sidebar should only include items that a user would likely want to 
visit from within Wiki entries (i.e. not when he begins to browse, since 
that stuff should just go on the main page entry).

> The user set would have a small number of links: FAQ, Applications.  
> The Applications page would list actively maintained projects. If  
> those have active wiki entries, that would be referenced. Otherwise,  
> the appropriate website would be referenced. Inactive/orphaned/dead/ 
> not-yet-1.0 applications would be another page reachable from the  
> bottom of the Applications page.
> 
> The developer set also would be limited: FAQ, Projects.
> The FAQ does not exist yet. Projects would be like Applications, but  
> reference the home of the project and perhaps have it's own wiki.  
> Pages such as for BibleTime are currently useless and should be deleted.

I think I would condense that even further, down to one FAQ (unless 
there's ever a developer-specific FAQ) and one Applications link--plus 
the addition of much more guidance on the main page (links and text 
beyond "Welcome").

--Chris