Hi,
I'm writing in comment of the jakarta.apache.org website. I'm a web
developer with a background in creating pages using PHP, Perl and Cold
Fusion. Lately I've been working with Java servlets and JSP. As a long time
Apache user I naturally gravitated towards using Tomcat and the other
Jakarta projects. I've also been using Cocoon to try out xml to html
processing.
I have to say I found the jakarta site very confusing and hard to use. I
feel this stems with the way the subprojects are simply alphabetically
listed. I think it would be much more appropriate to group projects by their
function and document how they are interconnected more logically. I also
feel some of the xml.apache.org projects should be listed with these as
well. Many people are coming from a background where they've grown into web
development from graphics or IT experience and not from a computer science
background. I think CS is the audience the current site is targeted at
simply because that's the natural way for programmers to write. I also think
it should be labeled more clearly which projects are ready to use and which
are still in rough form. Perhaps all that's needed is a section or subsite
that is written to the user audience, people who understand web development
and server-side scripting but are not java programmers.
My impression after studying the site is that the following list would be
a more natural way to introduce people to the projects. It's probable that
some of these are in the wrong catagories but I think that might underscore
how confusing it is to someone who hasn't used these tools.
? Programs / Applications (I'm not sure what the correct section
title would be since Application can mean Web Application)
Tomcat
James
Frameworks (all of these use the word frameworks in their own
descriptions)
Turbine
Velocity
Struts
Cocoon
Xang
Programming Support ( things you would use in your own programs )
ECS
ORO
Regexp
Xerces
Xalan
FOP
SOAP
Programming Tools ( tools you would use in the process of
programming )
Ant
Alexandria
Watchdog
Slide
Anyway, I hope it is clear that I'm just interested in helping improve the
documentation and the site and I don't want to come across like I'm just
complaining. Of course, I recognize that this is the world of open source,
and I would be glad to pitch in if that is needed.
Thanks, John Nicholas
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