Dev - General Updates and Fixes

[skipjack]

Moving dev stuff from #1380 for more targeted work...

We either need to finish #980 -- which still needs some work, possibly on the antwar level -- or port the site to a more stable build tool like phenomic or gatsby. Porting the site would also offer a few things, like full HMR, that #980 doesn't address but will require some serious thought. Either way these are the infrastructure issues we need to solve:

• [x] Resolve <title> issues (e.g. #720).
• [x] Display index pages correctly (#1085).
• [x] Bail if YAML/Markdown parsing fails (#1070).
• [x] Easier specification of custom layouts per guide (e.g. #1367).
• [ ] Consider a better hosting/deployment setup like Netlify (e.g. #845).
• [x] Mark releases (synced with main package) and archive them (#176, #1017).
• [x] Consider landing page image load improvements (#1548).

UPDATE: Fixed on The rebuild Branch

• [x] Interactive bundles contain duplicate code (#877).
• [x] Migrate away from marked and clean up process (webpack-contrib/webpack-defaults#73).
• [x] Better HMR, faster builds, and quicker build tests.
• [x] Continue component/utility modularization and simplification.

The last one refers to outsourcing much of the custom dev-related stuff to more modular packages as we've done with the voting app and extracted banner (though neither are actually being consumed yet).

Other Dev-Related Issues

• 1519 - Synchronized routing and /content structure with less configuration.

• 1400 - Turn the site into a PWA (sync w @TheLarkInn).

• 469 - Allow illustrations via Mermaid.

cc @montogeek @probablyup @geoffdavis92 @MoOx @bebraw @hulkish. If I've missed anyone please let me know, but I've tried to include everyone who has shown interest in site dev or has previously worked on site dev regularly.

[skipjack]

From #1526...

We need to think about the caching issue we've run into a few times during deployments. The site is currently hosted on GitHub via the gh-pages branch, and there's some caching layer on top of it that seems to have some issues. I'm thinking we just hold off until the Netlify port, then hammer on it and see what happens, however if someone has an idea for a short-term fix we're all ears.

[skipjack]

With @pierreneter's help we finally got #980 merged! This means our dependencies are at least up to date. I'm going to try to set up slack or hangouts session with those who are interested and who've worked on the site either on this issue, #1400, or other infrastructure related things. Will update once we have a date locked in. Ping me on gitter or slack if you're interested.

[skipjack]

I started a rebuild branch using pure webpack and the static-site-generator-webpack-plugin that builds the site much faster (i.e. ~30s) and gives us more control over the whole build process. If you're interested in helping, please ping me and we can discuss one of the remaining items to tackle.

I updated the checklist above to reflect what's been hit on the rebuild branch. The other remaining items probably make more sense as incremental follow-ups.

[anshumanv]

Netlify done ✨ https://github.com/webpack/webpack.js.org/issues/2954

[EugeneHlushko]

It is not about previews, it is about hosting in general