New Website Clarification

From: Vinnie Falco (vinnie.falco_at_[hidden])
Date: 2023-07-11 17:15:11

In this recent reddit post, Jonathan (online nickname "foonathan") says:

> AFAIK the CppAlliance decided to unilaterally write a
> new boost website for the Boost foundation, but the Boost
> foundation wasn't/isn't that interested in it.
>  ...
> I was told details, but I don't know whether they are official
> Boost foundation statements or personal views of the person
> that told me about it, so I don't want to share them.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cpp/comments/14whxvd/comment/jriii9h/

I responded with a clarification which I am reposting here for the
convenience of the folks on the mailing list. Cut on the dotted line:

Thanks

----
Point of clarification here:
We (a collection of Boost library authors including myself) recognized
the need for an updated website. Discussions about a new website would
recur on the mailing list, with everyone offering different opinions.
There were one (maybe two? efforts to produce a new website which
started out with good intentions but ultimately failed for various
reasons (venturing a guess I would say that it was a "design by
committee" problem combined with a lack of resources).
The current new in-development website is here (the URL is temporary):
https://boost.revsys.dev
Please open any issues or requests in the corresponding site repo:
https://github.com/cppalliance/temp-site
Because I care about Boost and I am deeply committed to improving the
C++ ecosystem, I decided that The C++ Alliance would invest its
resources in a new website project, following these principles:
That we would start building the site first instead of starting with
lengthy mailing list discussions that go nowhere.
That the new site would be designed according a vision that was later
outlined in a mailing list post (see:
https://lists.boost.org/Archives/boost/2023/05/254612.php)
*After* the site was substantially completed we would launch a public
beta to get feedback on what areas we need to work on.
That we would leave to the Boost community: the library authors,
maintainers, reviewers, release managers, and users; the decision on
whether the new website is what they want to represent Boost going
forward.
In other words I took the approach to simply build it first and then
figure out what people want later. Because the mailing list tradition
is to debate a thing intensely and then proceed to do nothing as no
one is interesting in actually doing the work. Of course I recognized
and accepted before the project was started that this could be one
huge gamble; that no one is going to want this type of site, and that
most everyone prefers the existing site.
I can understand the Boost Foundation's reluctance to embrace this new
website. Creating, maintaining, and hosting something of this high
level of quality requires resources. Fortunately, The C++ Alliance is
well equipped for the task. To ensure the ongoing success of this
website we have allocated in our budget ongoing full-time staff as
well as the resources to ensure that the website is performant for
visitors in every timezone (as Boost has a global audience). Our
dedicated website staff includes:
Samuel Darwin: Our full-time CTO/Senior DevOps expert. He is the guy
who deployed Drone CI and make it available for the entire Boost
GitHub organization (example: https://drone.cpp.al/boostorg/url). He
brings decades of experience managing live systems and has been
studying intensely on the specific needs of C++ developers
Spencer Strickland: Our full-time front-end developer who is
up-to-date on modern, responsive website development. He is also a
programming enthusiast who loves writing JavaScript and Python
programs. He is also working on styling the templates for the new
documentation toolchain (example:
https://www.boost.revsys.dev/doc/user-guide/task-networking.html)
Peter Turcan: Our full time technical writer. He's furiously typing
away at brand new documentation for Boost users and authors. As
documentation complaints are a recurring theme from users, we feel
that having at least one dedicated technical writer is probably a good
start! You can check out his work here:
https://www.boost.revsys.dev/doc/contributor-guide/version-control.html
We also keep an ongoing maintenance contract with RevSys
(https://www.revsys.com/), a wonderful development company whose
founder (Frank Wiles) specializes in Django and is also responsible
for contributing a huge percentage of the work that went into the
Django project itself. Only the best for Boost!
And don't forget you can visit all of us at The C++ Alliance, plus
many Boost library authors, maintainers, and users, and many prominent
members of the C++ community including some Standardization Committee
regulars, by joining the Official C++ Language Slack Workspace at:
https://cppalliance.org/slack/
The C++ Alliance sponsors this workspace by offering a complete Paid
Plan which allows unlimited full history, uploads, video and audio
recordings, and video and audio huddles/group chats for collaboration
and more. Visit us today!