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cdmgtri edited this page Apr 13, 2021 · 1 revision

NIEM GitHub repos vs niem.github.io website

NIEM GitHub repos

  • These sites are mostly for developers.
  • They contain code, release packages, a place to submit issues, etc.
    • One of the sites (repos) here has all of the raw code for the niem.github.io site.
    • One of the repos here has all of the NIEM release packages
    • There are repos here for each of the specifications
  • Most general users aren't going to know where to find the information they need here.

niem.github.io website

  • These should be user-friendly web pages.
  • We want to start directing users here as much as possible. We can still link to the github.com/niem urls as needed, but the links should have clear descriptions of what they are for (e.g., "Submit a new issue" or "Download the 5.0 release package") and be in a place where users should be able to easily find them.

GitHub Pages background info

  • The niem.github.io website is hosted for free by GitHub (this hosting feature is called "GitHub Pages").
    • GitHub will let you host a static website for each of your GitHub repos if you want. It's an easy option to set up in the repo settings.
    • Our niem.github.io site is all front-end (HTML, client-side JavaScript, etc.), so we can host it on GitHub.
    • Tools like the SSGT with a back-end (e.g., database, Java code, etc.) cannot be hosted by GitHub.
  • Our niem.github.io website is what GitHub hosts for us directly from this repo, which has all of the raw code for the website.
  • Once we commit changes to the master branch of this repo, our niem.github.io website automatically starts to update (it takes 5 - 10 minutes to finish).
  • You can temporarily stage website changes before deploying them by using a fork (a copy of this NIEM GitHub repo under your own account). Set up GitHub Pages, commit and push changes, and see what the changes look like on your own version of the site (e.g., https://USER_ACCOUNT.github.io/NIEM.github.io).
  • You can also test website changes quickly and locally on your own machine by following the installation and build instructions for Jekyll.

We are also leveraging GitHub Pages more now to host the pretty versions of the specification HTML files. You would normally just see the raw HTML on GitHub (lots of tags, no formatting) if you didn't use GitHub Pages to render the HTML.

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