Introduction

This document describes how to work the current NetBeans website(s) http://www.netbeans.org and http://platform.netbeans.org (and others possibly added later) into the new site being developed for the move to Apache. The new site has a specific look and feel which we would like to keep uniform. One of the rules at Apache is the site can not have a "back end server" other than 3rd party services such as discuss and mailing lists etc as this imposes things in infra which they can not afford to manage at this time, so a static site generator (SSG) will be used to allow for templates, writing, and blog style editing.

This is a pattern used by other projects at the ASF. Groovy as an example wrote their own. This document describes the site layout, how to use the SSG JBake in this context, a set of Gradle build files, and set of JSoup dependent Groovy scripts used to crop or scrape document content from existing pages to be placed into content files which get embedded in the new web site. Eventually the Groovy scripts will no longer be needed, and should go away; they are essentially tools for now.

Domain Names

The Apache NetBeans Incubating project has the domains http://netbeans.org and http://netbeans.apache.org. The suggestion at the moment is to redirect netbeans.apache.org to netbeans.org. If that is frowned upon, then it is suggested both netbeans.org and netbeans.apache.org have the same content, but have the domains point to the same information in site configuration (assuming this is httpd at Apache). This allows for the Apache domain branding to be used, and it allows for the history of NetBeans to be preserved which has proliferated for ~20 years or more at this point.

Envisioned Generated Site Layout

As much of the current NB site directory structure layout should be used as possible. This means things such as https://netbeans.org/kb/index.html and https://netbeans.org/kb/trails/java-se.html will continue to work if folks have permalinked them. There are certainly sections which may not translate directly to Apache or our current point in time, and we'll need to redirect to the home page in such cases (or something more reasonable). Too, assets and media should be rearranged. Currently CSS and JS are scattered in nonintuitive places such as under /images_www, and the CSS is under various directories. This should be better organized into either a top down layout such as:

/images

/css

/js

or

/images

/assets

/css

/js

Or, the site should be organized more along the lines of web components. At the moment, the current site seems a mild hodgepodge albeit those more web component type things reside under sub-structures in /images_www, and could still be considered more top down. For the sake of getting the site over to Apache, it is suggested a top down approach matching either of the above can be fine, and either will require the same amount of effort for scripted replacements of the current content to get it into the needed SSG structure.

New Site Plan

Converting the existing site to JBake will require a Gradle build setup, JBake configuration, a project structure, templates and layout, choices between page types and site sections, and some scripts to modify the current "content" files to match what JBake needs. This section will layout what that is. The output of these scripts, builds, templates, and content should deliver the envisioned generated site layout. This is obviously just a starting point at this time to be tweaked with other community members, but gets the SSG in place, to then be styled and beautified as needed.

This has been started at https://github.com/wadechandler/netbeans-static-site which is a temporary repository to get the build in place along with trimming out bloat (think Git history) which will not be needed or allowed at Apache. The build and site is documented in a README.md file, and all contributors are encouraged to read it fully as a first step.

There are also other aspects to keep in mind. There are portions of the old NetBeans site related to very old information such as Enterprise support and competitions which will not mean very much or as much at Apache. Some portions of the site, such as downloads and issue uploading, are not something we can manage from the site at Apache either. We will need to house the information and services in different places. So, these things will need to be replaced, and part of the overall plan will include this.

Script Conversion of Knowledge Base Sections HTML Files to Site Content

Script Conversion of Community Sections HTML Files to Site Content

Script Conversion of Features Sections HTML Files to Site Content

Script Conversion of Platform Sections HTML Files to Site Content

Replace Downloads Service

Replace Downloads Section

Replace Updates Section

Replace About Section

Replace UI Gestures Service

Replace UI Gestures Section

Replace Plugin Portal Service

Replace Plugin Portal Section

Relocate DTDs and NS (XML Schemas)

Update or Replace Books Section

Remove or Replace Switch Section