A set of recommendations for future maintenance of glandjs/docs

[LittleOddBoy]

As I mentioned in my recent contribution to glandjs/docs, I would like to present a set of recommendations that could assist the Gland.js core team in streamlining the development and maintenance of the documentation website. The objective is to establish a more efficient and sustainable approach to documentation management, ensuring that updates can be implemented smoothly with minimal overhead.

Over the past few days, I have conducted an extensive evaluation of various technical solutions that could support this objective. After careful consideration, I have identified a set of options that I believe would be most beneficial.

The Importance of an Effective Documentation System

Given that Gland.js is still in its early stages, it is understandable that the documentation website may not be the highest priority. However, documentation is an essential component of any framework’s adoption and long-term sustainability. A well-structured and easily maintainable documentation system plays a crucial role in facilitating user onboarding, supporting contributors, and ensuring the clarity of framework updates.

Astro has been an appropriate choice for this project due to its ability to facilitate rapid development with minimal complexity. However, the primary challenge does not lie in Astro itself but rather in the user interface (UI) design and implementation.

Developing a robust UI for documentation purposes presents several challenges, particularly given the importance of elements such as structured navigation, responsive layouts, syntax highlighting, and search functionality. These are essential components for ensuring an optimal user experience. At the same time, the technical approach must prioritize maintainability and efficiency, considering that most of the core team—particularly @m-mdy-m—is currently focused on addressing bugs and implementing new framework features.

Criteria for Selecting a Suitable Approach

To identify the most effective solution, I have considered the following criteria:

1. Astro Compatibility – The solution must integrate seamlessly with Astro, particularly its Islands Architecture, ensuring efficient rendering and performance.
2. Emphasis on Content Creation – The setup should prioritize ease of documentation writing, rather than requiring contributors to focus on UI development.
3. Ease of Migration and Deployment – Given that the current documentation system may evolve, the solution should be easily migratable and deployable.
4. Encouraging Contributions – The chosen approach should lower the barrier for contributors by simplifying the contribution process and minimizing the learning curve.

Recommended Solutions

Option 1: Starlight with Tailwind CSS (Strongly Recommended)

Repository: Starlight Tailwind Template

Astro provides several starter templates, but one of the most effective options—Starlight with Tailwind CSS—is not included by default. This template differs from the standard Starlight setup by incorporating Tailwind CSS, which offers several advantages:

• Simplified contribution process – Tailwind CSS provides utility-first styling, making it easier for contributors to modify and extend UI components without writing custom styles.
• Customization flexibility – The documentation site can be tailored to specific needs while maintaining a structured and maintainable design system.

By leveraging Astro’s robust Markdown support alongside Tailwind CSS, this solution enables contributors to focus on writing and structuring content rather than dealing with UI complexities. If adjustments to the design are necessary, Tailwind provides an efficient means of implementation without introducing additional dependencies or complexity.

Option 2: Standard Starlight Template with Raw Astro Components (Viable but Less Efficient)

The standard Starlight template provides many of the benefits outlined above but does not include Tailwind CSS. This means that all styling would need to be written using standard CSS, which can introduce the following challenges:

• Increased development time – Without utility classes, styling adjustments require more effort, making contributions less efficient.
• Reduced maintainability – Managing styles without a structured system such as Tailwind may result in inconsistencies over time.

While this approach is still viable, it is not as efficient as the Tailwind-based option. It may be more suitable if there is a preference for minimal external dependencies, but it does not provide the same ease of contribution.

Option 3: Custom UI with Astro, React, Tailwind, and shadcn/ui (Not Recommended)

This approach involves integrating Astro with React and using shadcn/ui for UI components, combined with Tailwind CSS. Although this might seem like a viable way to leverage React’s ecosystem, there are several significant drawbacks:

• Increased complexity – Managing React components within Astro’s Islands Architecture introduces unnecessary complexity.
• Higher maintenance overhead – The documentation site does not require highly dynamic UI components, making this approach excessive for the intended purpose.
• Reduced efficiency – The integration process adds extra layers of complexity that could slow down documentation updates.

While this setup could be beneficial for more dynamic applications, it is not a practical choice for a documentation site, where simplicity and maintainability should be prioritized.

Conclusion and Next Steps

Based on the evaluation of these options, I strongly recommend Option 1: Using the Starlight Tailwind template as the most suitable approach for the Gland.js documentation website. This option provides:

• A streamlined and efficient development process
• A well-structured, maintainable UI with minimal overhead
• A straightforward contribution workflow that encourages wider participation

I believe that adopting this solution will significantly improve the maintainability and usability of the documentation system. I welcome any feedback or additional considerations that the core team may have regarding this approach.

Would this be a viable direction for Gland.js moving forward? I look forward to discussing potential next steps.

[LittleOddBoy]

I think I wrote A LOT... Here is an AI-generated TL;DR of what I'm trying to say:

TL;DR

Gland.js needs a maintainable and efficient documentation system to support its early development. While Astro is a great choice, the primary challenge lies in UI implementation rather than the framework itself.

Key Criteria for a Suitable Solution:

• Must be compatible with Astro (especially Islands Architecture).
• Should allow contributors to focus on writing documentation, not building UI.
• Needs to be easy to migrate and deploy in the future.
• Should be simple to contribute to, encouraging broader participation.

Recommended Solutions:

✅ Option 1: Starlight with Tailwind CSS (Highly Recommended) – Provides a structured, flexible, and easy-to-maintain documentation setup with minimal UI overhead.
⚠️ Option 2: Standard Starlight Template (Viable but Less Efficient) – Works well but lacks Tailwind, making UI contributions more complex.
❌ Option 3: Custom UI with Astro, React, Tailwind, and shadcn/ui (Not Recommended) – Overly complex for a documentation site, adding unnecessary maintenance burden.

Conclusion: Adopting Starlight with Tailwind CSS is the best approach for simplifying documentation maintenance, improving efficiency, and encouraging contributions. Looking forward to the team’s feedback.

[m-mdy-m]

Thanks for your review and suggestions.
I found this Starlight Theme Rapide. It doesn't use Tailwind CSS, but I think it's a good option in terms of structure and design.

If you have a better option, I'd be happy to discuss it to find the best solution for Gland.js documentation. Otherwise, we can refactor this theme, optimize it with Tailwind CSS, and improve its structure.

What do you think?

[LittleOddBoy]

What is next? What's going on inyour mind? I would like to help.

[m-mdy-m]

thanks for offering to help! Here's what I'm thinking for the next steps regarding our documentation structure:

• Repo Structure & Landing Page: The current structure of the gland docs repo and the homepage can definitely be improved. We need to refine the overall layout to make it cleaner and more intuitive.
• Overview/Doc Section: The overview or main documentation section should be enhanced for better clarity and ease of navigation.
• Code Block Enhancements: We should integrate a package for code blocks that not only displays code beautifully but also provides a copy button for convenience.
• Markdown-Driven Content: Since we’re using Astro, I’d like all our documentation content to be built in Markdown. Right now, that’s not fully in place, and having everything in Markdown would streamline content creation and maintenance.
• Sidebar & UI Inspiration: I really like the sidebar in the Better-auth documentation – it’s exactly what we need for Gland. A sidebar that’s clean, minimal, and intuitive would help users navigate through the docs effortlessly.
• Content Prioritization: At this stage, the actual content isn’t as critical as getting the structure and UI right. Once we have a solid framework, we can add and refine the content.
• Editable Sections: We should also think about adding a mechanism (like an edit icon similar to GeeksforGeeks) that lets users or developers directly suggest changes or create issues in the docs. This isn’t a top priority yet, but it’s something to consider for future iterations.
• Responsiveness: The design needs to be fully responsive. Although it is responsive now, we can definitely improve it to ensure a seamless experience across all devices.
• Additional Pages: We need to incorporate additional pages for various aspects such as architecture, lifecycle examples, API reference, etc. While these details can be ironed out later, it’s important to have a flexible structure that can accommodate them.

Right now, the main focus is on getting the structure and UI nailed down. Once that’s stable, we can move on to content and extra features.

If you'd like to help, you can select any of the sections and submit a PR!

[LittleOddBoy]

If you don't mind, I'm going to re-create the whole documentation with the Starlight Tailwind theme. Since it's a major change, I am waiting for your permission; you're the boss. I would like to work on some of them ASAP after we finished migrating to the new UI style.

If you have anything else in your mind as a replacement for my go-to plan or anything else, let me know!

[m-mdy-m]

Great! Go ahead and start the migration with the Starlight Tailwind theme. Just make sure everything aligns with our previous discussions.

[LittleOddBoy]

Got it! thanks.