Re: New LilyPond website

[Paul]

On 11/30/2016 08:01 PM, John Roper wrote:

> Why is the website auto generated? What content is auto generated or
> is it just setup that way so that it is always built to the latest
> version for releases?

Others can probably give better answers, as this is kind of second hand 
based on past discussions... but the website is basically an appendage 
to the (much larger) documentation, and, well let me quote

https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/

-------------------
Texinfo is the official documentation format of the GNU project. It was 
invented by Richard Stallman and Bob Chassell many years ago, loosely 
based on Brian Reid's Scribe and other formatting languages of the time. 
It is used by many non-GNU projects as well.

Texinfo uses a single source file to produce output in a number of 
formats, both online and printed (dvi, html, info, pdf, xml, etc.). This 
means that instead of writing different documents for online information 
and another for a printed manual, you need write only one document. And 
when the work is revised, you need revise only that one document. The 
Texinfo system is well-integrated with GNU Emacs.
-------------------

So using texinfo to produce the documentation in info, pdf, html formats 
etc. is then also used for the website.  I think that's the main reason, 
but it's also tied up with supporting multiple translations of the 
docs/website and how building the docs runs LilyPond to generate all of 
the images for the examples, etc.  Also the argument is that having one 
system for docs and website is simpler and makes maintenance easier, 
especially with fewer contributors, etc.  That's the gist of past 
discussions.

I think there's a case for decoupling the website from the documentation 
to a greater degree, e.g. as Federico argued earlier in the thread, but 
based on past discussions I am not optimistic that this would go as far 
as not using texinfo.  (But I've often wondered how important is it for 
the content of the website to be available in pdf and info formats.)

Upgrading to the latest version of texi2any[0] and/or using Haunt would 
help, but those are non-trivial endeavors.  The current setup certainly 
introduces friction for website work, especially for those who are used 
to working directly with HTML.

[0] 
https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/Generic-Translator-texi2any.html

Cheers,
-Paul