node-build-script: A first "release" really soon?

[Mickael Daniel]

Hi guys,

I've done a lot of work recently on the node-build-script. The dom-based build is almost ready, the port to grunt 0.3.x is pretty much done.

I was thinking about doing a first "release" very soon, if of course you're all ok with the idea. Ideally, I'd like to make it happen by the end of the next weekend.

There are still a bunch of things I'd like to implement, but this definitely can be done in the next versions and iterations on the build script (thinking of img optims that remains to be done, sourcemap generation - probably using a custom min task to use closure compiler - datauri for small img, etc.)

My two main concerns before considering it ready for a 0.1.0 version are:

* comprehensive documentation

I've initiated a good start on that, the documentation is now managed directly in the repository but I plan to move them to the project wiki, so that anyone can edit them and make them better.

If you'd like to see what it looks like, I've pushed the generated site on a test repo: http://mklabs.github.com/test/

This is a work in progress.

* comprehensive test suite

And a convenient way to write / run them. After rewriting them a few times, I finally managed to get something that is quite easy to setup and maintain. Right now, there's basic test for the default task and usemin one.

Ideally, each task will be tested individually. This will probably make maintenance and accepting contribution (if there are) a lot easier.

Relatedly, I'm running a local JavaScript meetup in my little town (lyon) and I'll most likely give a talk next Tuesday on the node-build-script. I plan to give a basic introduction to grunt / how to write a grunt plugin, and a walkthrough on the node-build-script features.

It may be a good complement to the docs, if you're interrested in I'll send you a link to the slides I'll have to write.

Cheers,

Mickael

[divya manian]

YES PLEASE.

Should we deprecate ant-build-script and make this our endorsed
candidate for build script? Should anything change on the site?

Also what time frame are you looking at Mickael? I am just a bit
overwhelmed at the moment but I think I can try to dedicate some time
around end April. But anyone else who can do that, please help Mickael
in getting this released!

Regards,
Divya

[Mickael Daniel]

Hi,

> Should we deprecate ant-build-script and make this our endorsed
> candidate for build script? Should anything change on the site?

Oh no, I definitely don't think the ant-build-script should be
deprecated. The node based build script is far from being as polished
as the ant one, and lacks a lot of feature the ant script does, and
does really well. I guess it'll be for 1.0 :) Even in 1.0, I feel like
the ant build script should remain the main one, and maybe the node
based one could be proposed as a valid alternative.

> Also what time frame are you looking at Mickael?

I hope it'll be done the beginning of the next week.

I'll dedicate the next week-end to try to complete the few things I
have in mind (doc mainly and an init task for bootstraping a new h5bp
project with grunt config)

Cheers,
Mickael

2012/4/5 divya manian <divya....@gmail.com>:

--
Mickael Daniel

[Nicolas Gallagher]

Hey Mickael,

It's great what you've been doing with the node build script. Feel free to

promote the release whenever you're ready; let us know and we can help

you spread the word and find some helpful contributors.

Thanks for all the work you've been doing!

Nicolas

[Mickael Daniel]

Thanks for the support Nicolas! (and Divya :) )

I'd like to give you a quick update on this (and a few links).

* I worked mainly on setting up the project documentation this week-end, now managed directly in the wiki 

* A special docs branch have been created, with the scripts to generate the documentation from wiki pages all in one big index.html file (very much inspired by backbonejs docs). I'm quite happy with the results. This should work also on h5bp.com/docs, I might give it a try and issue a pull request on the site's repo to see if you like the result.

* I gave a talk at my local JS meetup on "automating website optimizations" and I talked quite a bit on grunt, grunt plugin development and the h5bp/node-build-script more specifically. Here's the link to the last part, if you'd like to give it a look. I might add this to the project documentation, maybe it is a good complement to the docs.

* I really wanted this: A (slightly advanced) grunt init task for the h5bp project. There are quite a few prompts already allowing user to completely customize their h5bp project (like renaming css/ folder to something else). In addition to that, a gruntfile matching the project setup is generated.

I still have a few things to clean out, but we're almost there.

Cheers,
Mickael

2012/4/6 Nicolas Gallagher <nicolasg...@gmail.com>:

[Nicolas Gallagher]

Hey,

Great job on the docs! How do you create the wiki sidebars using git-access? GitHub don't seem to have any documentation.

I'll take a look at the rest when I get home.

Really looking forward to being able to promote the release when you're ready.

[Mickael Daniel]

Hey Nicolas,

You can add sidebars and footers with special files likes _sidebar.ext
and _footer.ext in the git wiki repo (seems like this a feature not
exposed through their web ui).

I found out this feature in gollum's readme
(https://github.com/github/gollum#readme), I agree that it's not
obvious you'll have to scroll quite a bit to see this :)

It works with subdirectories too, meaning you can add specific
sidebars and / or footers per "page category".

2012/4/11 Nicolas Gallagher <nicolasg...@gmail.com>

--
Mickael Daniel