GEDCOM X Web Site needs better structure/usability

[EssyGreen]

The web site for GEDCOM X (http://www.gedcomx.org/Home.html) is poorly structured and I find it extremely difficult to find anything without browsing almost randomly in the hope of coming across it by chance. This is made even more frustrating by the lack of any ability to search the site.

I was hoping to re-find the "recipe book" this afternoon but instead spent a not-so-happy happy hour or two weaving around pages which usually end up with lengthy but meaningless RDF examples.

The introductory sections don't seem to provide sensible links to lead the reader in ... for example from the home page:

"Search Reliable Sources" - "GEDCOM X defines a standard way to describe sources". That's great but the link to the "Source Metadata Model" just goes to a page which highlights a list of generic "Quick Links". Somewhere at the bottom you can click on the "Description" which then dives straight into the RDF syntax for something which has an id, a type and a set of custom attributes. Er ... so as a reader I'm left thinking how the heck does this help me detail my sources!?!

"Cite Each Source" - "GEDCOM X defines the mechanism for referencing sources and their associated descriptions". Again great but the link just dumps me in the midst of the Developer Guide

"Analyze Sources, Information, and Evidence" - "GEDCOM X defines the standard data elements that are used to model the analysis and correlation of collected information" ... the link from this one is better since the UML diagram provides a good overview ... shame that clicking just zooms the image instead of going through to the definitions of each object type. The RDF examples (e.g. Person) desperately need a non-RDF equivalent to make sense of them and need to be complete and realistic rather than just using blanks/dots as fillers.

"Resolve Conflicts" - "GEDCOM X defines data elements and types that are used in the process and to capture the results of resolving conflicts" - this sounds like meaningless sales jargon to me - especially since the only link is to the generic Developers Guide again. I haven't yet seen one decent example anywhere of how GEDCOM X handles/helps resolve conflicts so I'd be really interested to see what should be in here!

"Make a Soundly-Reasoned Conclusion" - "Every piece of evidence modeled by GEDCOM X defines an attribution property that supplies the contributor of the information and the proof statement" - great so where's that "evidence" object? and a link to the "attribution property"? No luck, I've just got the Developer's Guide again. ... Ah I found that "Attribution property" - but it's just a single word!! I defy anyone to make a "Soundly-Reasoned Conclusion" using just one word!!!

Please can we have some structure and sensible linking so we can see what's there.

PS: Any chance of a link to that recipe book again?

[jralls]

http://www.gedcomx.org/recipes.html

[alex-anders]

I agree on how difficult it can be to return pertinent search results.

[stoicflame]

+1

[EssyGreen]

thx @jralls :)

@stoicflame - can the recipe book be added into the main menu or something?

[nealmcb]

Based on #252 (Updated "Home" page for GEDCOM X) it looks like the home page has changed recently. What do you think?

[stoicflame]

The changes at #252 are only on the wiki and haven't been pushed to the home site yet.

A milestone 1 release is pending within the next week or two. The milestone release includes the declaration that the conceptual model, serialization formats, and file format (i.e. the "core specification set") are "stable", meaning any changes to those specifications must be backwards-compatible. Having a stable specification set finally allows us to concentrate on providing meaningful and much-needed substance to the documentation and other "non-normative" elements of the project. (It's hard to document a moving target.)

So, in summary, we are leaving this (and other similar) issues open to be addressed with the new post-milestone 1 efforts. We know there is still much to be done.