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MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

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Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#51

Post by pianoben »

0-O-0 wrote: post #40
pianoben wrote: post #25

Reading between the lines, it seems obvious that Mozilla wishes to stop funding localization. Translations aren't even that expensive, especially relative to the cost of producing the docs in the first place. It hurts me to see MDN so starved of resources that they can't pay for even that small piece. MDN has been key to so many people's technical education. High-quality web documentation is an essential resource for…

Did they actually fund localisations? I'm unfamiliar with their process, but this article game me an impression that it was completely community driven.

Yes, absolutely. Approximately nobody translates technical documentation for fun, much less at such a high level. The article is pretty clear that the number of languages supported is a business decision.

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#52

Post by justinlilly »

luhn wrote: post #34

I'm a bit confused on the diagram for the new architecture: What's the purpose of the Lambda function? I don't see them explain that anywhere.

For the arrow coming from github to the cdn, I would bet that's a deployment where the existing docs site gets deployed as a lambda. From there, CDN calls that aren't cached go to the lambda which are then served up.

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#53

Post by contravariant »

parhamn wrote: post #16
DC-3 wrote: post #12

So they're hoping that they can replace the people they fired with open source contributors working for free.

Man these kind of views bother me so much. They’re taking one of the most (if not, most) useful documentation sources for cross platform web development that benefits them very little, and moving it to a system of open contribution so it can live past the company’s financial problems. And this is your first take?

Well, the way I see it it was the financial problems who personally made the decision, so that complicated things somewhat.

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#54

Post by detaro »

wwarner wrote: post #23
parhamn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man these kind of views bother me so much. They’re taking one of the most (if not, most) useful documentation sources for cross platform web development that benefits them very little, and moving it to a system of open contribution so it can live past the company’s financial problems. And this is your first take?

Granted, it depends on how it turns out. But my first impression is that authoritative reference documents of MDN are going to become cluttered with comments and disagreements.

Why is it now more likely to become cluttered than before?

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#55

Post by pianoben »

dmos62 wrote: post #30
pianoben wrote: post #25

Reading between the lines, it seems obvious that Mozilla wishes to stop funding localization. Translations aren't even that expensive, especially relative to the cost of producing the docs in the first place. It hurts me to see MDN so starved of resources that they can't pay for even that small piece. MDN has been key to so many people's technical education. High-quality web documentation is an essential resource for…

We shouldn't discount volunteer translations. Won't the new platform support that?

I don't doubt that the Github-based CMS will allow for community-provided translations. I _do_ doubt that we'll see anything like the current set of languages covered at anything like the current levels of breadth and quality.

Like I said in another comment, approximately nobody translates technical documentation for fun.

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#56

Post by ironmagma »

parhamn wrote: post #16
DC-3 wrote: post #12

So they're hoping that they can replace the people they fired with open source contributors working for free.

Man these kind of views bother me so much. They’re taking one of the most (if not, most) useful documentation sources for cross platform web development that benefits them very little, and moving it to a system of open contribution so it can live past the company’s financial problems. And this is your first take?

With corporations, the cynical view is most likely to be the correct view. And I wouldn’t say MDN does very little for Mozilla; it’s the main part of their brand in developers’ mind share. If they want to have a browser without developers who like it, that’s their choice, but it won’t really work out well business wise.

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#57

Post by detaro »

zerocrates wrote: post #46
whalesalad wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still don't fully grok the term. Is it a loose/blanket term sorta like 'devops' or is it a more literal prescription of actual requirements and practices?

I can get that a significant part of it is just "static HTML," what I don't quite get is what makes it different than just static site generation. I guess that would be the "A" part...

Marketing pretty much. Some vague cloud of "uses serverless to generate", "pushes static files to a CDN through an API", but if you drill down none of that is key to it. I.e. you'll find advocates state that if a site uses a static site generator or Netlify it's JAMStack.

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#58

Post by GoblinSlayer »

pianoben wrote: post #25

Reading between the lines, it seems obvious that Mozilla wishes to stop funding localization. Translations aren't even that expensive, especially relative to the cost of producing the docs in the first place. It hurts me to see MDN so starved of resources that they can't pay for even that small piece. MDN has been key to so many people's technical education. High-quality web documentation is an essential resource for…

If the text is in github, you can download it, backup, make an iso and share on piratebay, it won't be lost.

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#59

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

jannes wrote: post #15

It is going to be the 5th iteration of CMS/wiki software. Hopefully this is the right one. 1. Netscape DevEdge 2. MediaWiki 3. Deki Wiki (renamed to MindTouch, closed source since 2013) 4. Kuma 5. Yari There's a nice history here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/MDN_at_ten/History_...

And the problem is that each time the software changes, attributions are lost. I used to be active contributor to MDN with thousands of contributions. Countless hours of volunteer work.

When the platform changed and my attributions were lost, I stopped contributing. I had no street cred anymore. I was angry.

The switch to GitHub means the same problem once again. Nice way to alienate your community, MDN. Good luck with that.

Re: MDN Web Docs evolves: Lowdown on the upcoming new platform

#60

Post by wffurr »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #59
jannes wrote: post #15

It is going to be the 5th iteration of CMS/wiki software. Hopefully this is the right one. 1. Netscape DevEdge 2. MediaWiki 3. Deki Wiki (renamed to MindTouch, closed source since 2013) 4. Kuma 5. Yari There's a nice history here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/MDN_at_ten/History_...

And the problem is that each time the software changes, attributions are lost. I used to be active contributor to MDN with thousands of contributions. Countless hours of volunteer work. When the platform changed and my attributions were lost, I stopped contributing. I had no street cred anymore. I was angry. The switch to GitHub means the same problem once again. Nice way to alienate your community, MDN. Good luck wi…

Oh no, my internet points!
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