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- For i18n I already have some idea on how this could work, as it was a reported issue: https://github.com/vriteio/vrite/issues/7 https://github.com/vriteio/vri
by arek_nawo 3y ago
- For i18n I already have some idea on how this could work, as it was a reported issue: https://github.com/vriteio/vrite/issues/7 https://github.com/vriteio/vrite/issues/7
- When integrating with Git, I agree that having a single source of truth is important. In the ideal case I'd like it to work a bit like Git in VS Code. The edited content is still stored in Vrite, though it can be committed and pushed to or pulled from Git to sync. Kanban wouldn't work for that though (unless it's Vrite-only for management purposes) and some other view to represent the structure of the "documentation project" would have to be used. Also, when syncing with files in Git, some kind of format would have to be used to convert the content back and forth. Not everyone might want to use standard Markdown or MarkDoc (especially if they already have some docs in your custom format), so this should likely be customizable as well (with good defaults).
- I won't really be pushing Vrite into docs-as-code and other spaces like this. The primary use-case is dev marketing (right now) and general documentation like usage guides, explainations, etc., where the content is primarly text with addition of code (in the future). Wrote more on this in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36339020 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36339020
- Features like versioning, comments and edit requests are planned. Vrite already saves the history of your edits, so it's a matter of implementing a proper UI to view that.
- I agree that companies won't jump on the tool that they'll have to first develop custom extensions for. That said, the idea with extensions (and Vrite being open-source) is that, once an extension system is ready, community will be able to build and publish extensions, hopefully growing the collection as a whole. I know it's rather hard to pull of, but still possible. That's another inspiration from VS Code, btw.
- The features to fetch code snippets or handle contribution licensing make sense, though they are quite specific. In dev marketing (and often times in docs) you'll still need to write small, custom code snippets that don't necessarily exist anywhere else in the first place. On the other hand, licensing sounds like a custom need to me, and it would make most sense if it was available as an extension.
- In general, my approach to adding features is to create something as simple as possible, but highly versitile. I think highly-specific features can quickly bog-down the entire product (and its codebase). It's not always easy, but to give you a few examples for features you've discussed:
> I18N could be handled with "content variants" which would also be useful when you need to slightly adjust the content for different endpoints (though, in some cases maybe conditional inline content blocks would be better for that)
> Code snippet fetching/sync - likely a system of custom content blocks would be best for this and many other use-cases. You'll still be able to create entirely custom block that fetches content and displays it in a read-only editor or just simple view with syntax highlighting). These could be added via extensions. Adding this functionality to built-in code blocks (either directly or through hooks or something) would be too complex for the core, imo.
> Licensing - don't have anything good for this one as of yet, but likely some hooks in the mids of the editing process.
- starkparker 3y ago> The primary use-case is dev marketing (right now) and general documentation like usage guides, explainations, etc., where the content is primarly text with addition of code ... Looking back, labeling Vrite as a "CMS for technical/developer marketing" might have made it more clear what the product's goals are. I think that's the way to go. There's a lot of opportunity there for a tool that's better suited to this work than blog-focused CMSs and Google Docs, but with the same sphere of pick-up-and-go accessibility ("so easy, even a product manager could use it!") without sacrificing the technical hooks to integrate that content with disparate things like LMSs, in-app help, or product docs. Runbook docs might even be a good fit depending on how well Vrite can integrate with the tools being deployed, and would be the right audience for the kinds of people who'd likely write and maintain extensions for it. Product education teams that are allergic to the weight and complexity of LMSs would probably enjoy it too, especially if a mature extension or frontend pops up that can take one pile of content nodes and conditionally present them as blog posts, presentation slides, and paginated workbooks. But man... the product docs space is like a 12-armed bear. I'd stay far away from even implicitly raising the possibility of Vrite being a fit for "documentation" from a product point of view. Product docs teams often have the most, and most specific, feature needs ("can you conditionalize my content based on non-Boolean feature flags while outputting to both raw and formatted HTML, PDF, and DOCX, and also linting all the content for style, reading level, and sensitivity, oh and also we need to be able to publish shared content across 36 versions of 7 product lines in 12 languages, including British localization. Also it can't fail any accessibility tests. Also can you make the logo on the output 6.5 pixels bigger, use this font I got off dafont, and match these Pantone color values from our branding"), and also the fewest technical resources to write or maintain things like extensions, and smallest budgets to pull the whole thing off — so they're also always looking at any tool that might even tangentially help them do more with less.