[racket] Best way to propose changes to Scribble CSS files

Thank you for the comments so far. As for the gentleman who was "reluctant
to say anthing negative," please don't be — the point of making a prototype
is to find out what doesn't work.

I won't cover every suggestion here on the mailing list because it will
become unwieldy. But I'll move the trickier topics onto the github repo as
issues, and those interested can comment further there.




On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 5:52 PM, Greg Hendershott
<greghendershott at gmail.com>wrote:

> This is so wonderful and I'm so happy you did this. It is awesomely
> awesome. Truly.
>
> Thank you, thank you, thank you!
>
>
> My only gripe so far is the floating search box that insists on being
> in the top-left corner and won't scroll away. On a desktop browser,
> some people find that sort of thing mildly annoying. On a phone
> browser, it's worse. For example if you double-tap the main column to
> zoom in, the search box is still stuck up there floating on top of
> text you want to read.  tl;dr I suggest letting it scroll off normally
> along with "on-this-page", preferably IMO always, but at least on
> small screens.
>
> One other mobile issue: At least on Chrome for Android, the main text
> is a comfortable size, but the code examples are very tiny.  (Whereas
> on the desktop, the sizes seem relatively equal.)
>
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 2:12 AM, Matthew Butterick
> <mb.list.acct at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Rather than edit the Scribble CSS files in the main Racket repo, I
> decided
> > it would be more efficient to make a new repo to act as a prototype (and
> > serve it via github pages). That way, it's easier for others to try the
> new
> > CSS and report problems & suggestions. Once the changes look good, I can
> put
> > them into a pull request for the main repo.
> >
> > What I did is grab part of the docs from the built version of 5.90.0.9
> and
> > dropped that in the prototype repo. Then I edited the CSS files.
> >
> > The prototype repo is here:
> >
> > https://github.com/mbutterick/racket-doc-redo/tree/gh-pages
> >
> > To preview the pages in a web browser, start here:
> >
> > http://mbutterick.github.io/racket-doc-redo/doc/index.html
> >
> > This is my first attempt at using github pages, so if there's breakage,
> > blame me.
> >
> > As for the design changes, there's more refinement and nitpickery to
> come,
> > but the basic idea is intact, and good enough to criticize. Mostly I've
> > aimed to simplify and update the layout, while keeping the character of
> the
> > documentation intact. I've also tried to address one key functional
> > shortcoming of the current CSS: its fixed width.
> >
> > And yes, it is somewhat less colorful overall, though not because I
> oppose
> > "the colors of the rainbow" ;) Rather, I just think the color has better
> > effect when it's used sparingly. Like a day spa for the mind.
> >
> > Matthew Butterick
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 16, 2013 at 3:41 PM, Robby Findler <
> robby at eecs.northwestern.edu>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> I've just finished reading your (beautiful!) book and am excitedly
> looking
> >> forward to what you come up with. Do let us know if you get stuck
> anywhere.
> >> (And yes: we apparently like all the colors of the rainbow more than you
> >> seem to; hopefully you won't hold that against us :).
> >>
> >> Robby
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 5:35 PM, Matthew Butterick
> >> <mb.list.acct at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Consistent with my pledge at RacketCon, I’ve been working on some
> >>> potential improvements to the default CSS files used by Scribble for
> Racket
> >>> documentation. Before I get too far I just want to make sure I’m going
> about
> >>> it the right way.
> >>>
> >>> I've read the tutorials by Joe Politz and Greg Hendershott about how to
> >>> contribute to Racket via Github. I made a fresh fork of plt/racket
> yesterday
> >>> and built it from source. But the Scribble CSS files are handled a
> little
> >>> differently than others.
> >>>
> >>> I see that the documentation gets built into racket/racket/doc/,
> >>> including the CSS files. So if I edit the files in that directory, I
> can see
> >>> the CSS changes reflected in the docs. However, the whole doc
> directory is
> >>> ignored in the git repo. And I need to edit files that git can see.
> >>>
> >>> So I found the original home of the CSS files in
> >>> racket/pkgs/scribble-pkgs/scribble-lib/scribble/. If I update these
> files,
> >>> then git sees them. But the changes aren't reflected in the live
> >>> documentation.
> >>>
> >>> My workaround has just been to replace the copies in racket/racket/doc
> >>> with symlinks to the files in scribble-pkgs. That way, as I update the
> CSS
> >>> in scribble-pkgs, git can see the updates, but they're also reflected
> in the
> >>> live docs. (These symlinks will get wiped out next time I rebuild from
> >>> source, but that's the price of progress.)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> 1) What's the best way to propose Scribble CSS updates? Should I
> assemble
> >>> a pull request for racket/pkgs/scribble-pkgs/scribble-lib/scribble/ ?
> >>>
> >>> 2) Is there a better way of connecting the CSS file in scribble-pkgs to
> >>> the actual CSS file used by the documentation? (i.e., other than my
> symlink
> >>> technique).
> >>>
> >>> 3) Anyone who wants to try out the new Scribble CSS files or contribute
> >>> to the update will have the same problem, however. I'm not sure how to
> avoid
> >>> this given that Scribble's HTML rendering policy is to bring the CSS
> files
> >>> along for the ride and eliminate dependency on the source directory.
> OTOH,
> >>> it's a drag to have to rebuild the docs just to see the effect of a
> few CSS
> >>> files.
> >>>
> >>> 4) For now I'm just working with the CSS, and not delving into the
> >>> Scribble HTML renderer, on the idea that changing fewer files is
> better, and
> >>> maintaining compatibility with existing doc sources is essential. That
> said,
> >>> there are some occasional defects in the Scribble HTML output that puts
> >>> things out of reach of CSS (e.g., I've found styling hard-coded into
> the
> >>> HTML in places).
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Matthew Butterick
> >>>
> >>> ____________________
> >>>   Racket Users list:
> >>>   http://lists.racket-lang.org/users
> >>>
> >>
> >
> >
> > ____________________
> >   Racket Users list:
> >   http://lists.racket-lang.org/users
> >
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.racket-lang.org/users/archive/attachments/20131110/a45e68a4/attachment-0001.html>