I think it looks great, but I would really like to see the SCM source for this new site, so I can understand the maintenance/build workflow for it, before I'd have any useful opinion other than regarding aesthetics.
I definitely concur with moving the docs out to the site to centralize it. On Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 3:03 PM Yurii Palamarchuk <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thanks for your comment, Patrick. > > Why React? > Building a website nowadays is not just HTML + CSS, because doing it this > way turns the developer experience into a nightmare. With React we > effortlessly have consistent UI components across all pages, including > buttons, tables, markdown rendering, colors, and much more. We also add the > interactivity much more easily with React. A static website doesn't mean it > lacks interactivity; it often has significant interactivity, especially in > the documentation section. The difference is that we don't need any runtime > environment, we just return the files generated at build time, which are > ultimately just HTML, CSS, and JS. The website also has dark mode support, > search in the documentation, smooth transitions between pages (no hard > reload), so it gives smooth and better user experience overall. I hope this > answers your question. Moreover, the website will work absolutely fine even > for those who have JS disabled, this is called progressive enhancement. > Initially, the server returns HTML and CSS. The browser renders them and > tries to fetch the JS files. If it doesn't succeed, the page remains > accessible, though it obviously lacks interactivity. I hope this answers > your questions, if not, feel free to ask more about it! > > Is it hard for ZK devs to update the content? > Not at all! I tried to make it so the learning curve for non-JS devs is > almost 0. For the documentation you still just need to edit the MDX > (Markdown Extended) files and run the build command. I will also add a bash > script to automate the build process. For the landing pages, you still > mostly only need to modify the markdown files. Only the main page isn't > markdown, modifying something small wouldn't be a problem. In the worst > case, if something more complex is required, you can handle it with the AI. > Nevertheless, the website hasn't been updated for years, so it wouldn't be > a big loss :) > > Best regards, > Yurii > > > > > On Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 4:19 PM Patrick Hunt <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 3:32 AM Yurii Palamarchuk < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Hi there, > > > > > > I am proposing an upgrade to the ZooKeeper website and documentation. We > > > are moving to a modern React.js stack, which allows landing pages and > > > versioned documentation to live in a single application sharing the same > > UI > > > components, libraries, colors, etc. > > > > > > The plan is to move all website and documentation source code to the > > > website branch and remove the zookeeper-docs Maven project from the > > master > > > branch. This decouples the Node/JS build environment from the core Java > > > repository. > > > > > > Versioned docs will be managed via archived folders within the website > > > branch. Documentation updates would move from master to PRs against the > > > website branch. Also I'm not planning to keep the app as a maven project, > > > since it's fully JS based. To keep it simple, I will write a bash script > > > that installs the dependencies, runs the tests, and the build. > > > > > > What do you think about moving the docs out of master to centralize the > > > site? > > > > > > Preview: https://zookeeper-website.vercel.app/ > > > > > > > > Looks pretty slick - nice update and visual refresh! Question though - why > > React? This is a static website, what are the pro/con of React based? Can > > you explain the impact on common use cases like making updates? ZK team > > includes a number of people, not all of whom might know React, how hard > > will it be for them to make changes? Impact on the release process? > > > > Regards, > > > > Patrick > > > > > > > Best regards, > > > Yurii Palamarchuk > > > > >
