Proper Documentation

[TimCadieux]

Hi folks, I've been trying to avoid posting this Issue but i've been staring at the various pages for over 3hours now, I may have missed something glaringly obvious but I wanted to share the experience.

For context, I am a .net developer and have implemented, from scratch, at least 4 GoC websites using the Web Experience Toolkit (various versions) in my time. In the previous version, I would download the Dist.zip, spin up a new solution, grab the Index.html, move the various reusable html groups into shared views or Includes and having a WET website that compiles in about 15min. It was easy because all the code was just right there.

Knowing that my dept was going to be looking at Canada.ca this year, I thought I would get a head start on things and prepare a re-usable template for my developer's using .netCore so that everything project was standardized for ease of maintenance.

1. https://wet-boew.github.io/wet-boew/docs/versions/dwnld-en.html - Canada.ca [Source Code]
2. Go to GitHub - clone
3. Hmm, sure are a lot of files there - open home.html - just a redirect to the online version - not helpful
4. Hmm, readme - has instructions (french only) on how to run docker - can't run Docker - not dept supported yet
5. Docs folder - Implementing page - finally - Step 1 - download gcWeb - hmm points to change log that's no longer updated, ok, well let's try the Releases like, ah, there are the files...will grab the dist file as usual
6. Hmm, ok, I see the folder structure and it explains Step 2 on the Quick Implementing page which before this, made no sense since step 1 made no reference to which Zips I should downloading.
7. Index redirects back to Online version again.
8. Demos folder, every page is just a redirect
9. gcWeb-theme has a single file with the full page code - finally
10. 5 min later I have a working Index page
11. ok, now to make a splash page...
12. No splash page - download the 3 other .zip files - no splash files anywhere
13. Back to quick implementing Guide - Step 3. Create your page template - how?
14. Ok, static header and footer - sigh - Bootstrap 3 and 4 - ok, umm Notes don't really tell me which to adopt - and all 4 urls to source code are broken
15. ok - Generic content page then - 404
16. ok, now I have 0 information to work on
17. Scroll down the "Quick" which by my estimation I had to scroll 5 times to get to the end
18. find 'code sample and published page template in GCWeb.' - nice - redirects to online ver
19. ok - there's an implementing section - back to quick guide
20. Looking through Templates - Index page - Working example takes me to online page, Documentation - not helpful in the least, oh API Documentation - same url as previous Documention
21. Ok - Templates Splash page - redirects to online version - example goes here https://wet-boew.github.io/GCWeb/templates/splash/splashpage.html
22. Circle back to my cloned project - find the Splash folder - found a layouts page with some kind of scripting and I suppose I could find all the include files and reassemble but any future releases would break what I do here

I even attempted to try and work with the Jekyll Repo but the url in the About page doesn't even work so at that point I just gave up

At this point, I hope it's clear that I have actually made a real attempt to understand how to implement this project. Unless I missed something glaringly obvious, I have absolutely 0 idea how other developers are able to adopt. I don't meant this as a rant but rather a comment on the current layout of the project and project support files and or documentation.

Edit :

I just now discovered this page - https://wet-boew.github.io/v4.0-ci/docs/versions/dwnld-archive-en.html which has Production links to the type of layout I mention in my intro. It onyl exists for version 9 where the current version has no such download available, so I think my above still stands.

[duboisp]

@TimCadieux Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for flagging the broken link.

I am going to fix the broken link in the Implement GCWeb and let you know when it is fixed.

[Lephilosophe]

Hi @TimCadieux , Just for a little context, I'm currently an internship student who mainly coded in c#, asp.netcore, Jquery / javascript and java. I am trying to convert the site of the organization for which I work based on canada.ca only in html. I would have questions to know if it is possible to do it only in html without having to create an asp app.

[sgdowney]

Perhaps this would help with implementing the Canada.ca theme:
https://gccode.ssc-spc.gc.ca/iitb-dgiit/sds/GOCWebTemplates/DotNetTemplates/-/wikis/home
Packages are available on nuget.org

[Lephilosophe]

Thanks @sgdowney but the link does not work

[sgdowney]

The link should be accessible if you are on the GoC network.

[gendronp-fr]

Hi,
I can see many improvements since this issue was originally created but the link to the "generic content page" under the section 3. Create your page template is still broken.

[andrewnordlund]

I had a similar experience adding WET to my personal website. I wrote about it here: https://www.nordburg.ca/blog/installingWET.html

I'll summarize what worked for me:

1. Go to WET Download Page
2. Click the "Download" button for "Web Experience Toolkit (WET)".
3. In the Assets section: click on the wet-boew-dist-#.#.##.zip. This will download the zip file.
4. Copy and unzip the file somewhere on your computer handy.
5. This will create a new folder with a lot of files you may not need, including the WET website itself. Here's what you may need. Copy these files/directories to where you need them (ie: your web site's base folder):
   • /theme-wet-boew/ This is where the CSS files and some icons live.
   • /wet-boew/ This is where the Javascript, some other CSS (for polyfills), etc. live
6. Copy appropriate template files from /theme/. If you want an English page with a section menu (ie: a left-nav menu) copy content-secmenu-en.html to your project folder and update the content to your own.
7. If your site isn't displaying properly, check your browser's console to see if any WET components are being called, but not found. Copy any missing files from the unzipped WET directory to where they ought to be.

And now I've been asked to help a group implement WET on their Intranet app, and I'm finding the experience to be similar to above. I'm using the Quick implementation guide - GCWeb theme - Canada.ca, and the generic content page link is still broken.

If I figure it out, I'll post a quick'n'dirty guide here for posterity sake.