Re: website: say what Guix is at the very top

[Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com>]

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ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> Hello,
>
> Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com> skribis:
>
>> Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> writes:
>>
>>> Hi Guix,
>>>
>>> on the website it starts right away with a list of features:
>>> “Liberating”, “Dependable”, and “Hackable”.  But what is this thing
>>> called Guix?
>>>
>>> We should add a very short paragraph above that list to say what Guix
>>> and GuixSD are.
>>>
>>> What do you think?
>>
>> How is Guix different from other package managers?  Why is it better?
>
> That’s what Liberating (free software), Dependable (transactional,
> etc.), Hackable (it’s a Scheme API) tries to convey.
>
> The hope was that by reading these 3 items people could tell how it
> differs from APT/dpkg, Conda, or Nix.

To be honest, I really like the current list of 3 items.  I think it's a
good "marketing" front page, even if perhaps it doesn't provide a
complete answer of what Guix is.  What do you think about making these
minor changes to the website (see attached).

>> Perhaps the best way to do that would be to write a problem statement.
>> Instead of explaining what Guix is, explain what problems Guix solves.
>> The first chapter of Eelco Dolstra's Ph. D. thesis [1] did a fantastic
>> job of explaining what problems Nix solves, and by the end of that
>> chapter, I was really excited to learn more about Nix (and Guix) and try
>> it out.  In particular, the list of problems with the state of the art
>> in section 1.3 "Motivation" and the list of solutions that Nix offers in
>> section 1.5 "Contributions" were particularly concise and convincing.
>> Maybe we can aim for something similar on our Guix website?
>
> The “Introduction” and “Features” sections of the manual aim to achieve
> that goal, but in a “constructive” way (stating what properties it has,
> rather than what properties other solutions lack.)  However, I think
> it’s not that concise and it’s quite technical, so I’d keep that in the
> manual rather than on the front page.
>
> Thoughts?

I agree.  Our manual is great overall.  If I can think of ways to
improve it even more, I'll submit more patches for review.

-- 
Chris

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From adf588a9daa73072ad3f1b39581ba5881a6cf780 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Chris Marusich <cmmarusich@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2018 16:31:02 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] website: Clarify the descriptions of Guix and GuixSD.

* website/apps/base/templates/home.scm: Clarify descriptions.
---
 website/apps/base/templates/home.scm | 47 +++++++++++++++++++++---------------
 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

diff --git a/website/apps/base/templates/home.scm b/website/apps/base/templates/home.scm
index f7c2d1c..beb1b39 100644
--- a/website/apps/base/templates/home.scm
+++ b/website/apps/base/templates/home.scm
@@ -36,10 +36,27 @@
       (@ (class "featured-content"))
       (h2 (@ (class "a11y-offset")) "Summary")
       (ul
+       (li
+	(b "Dependable.")
+	,(link-yellow
+	  #:label "GNU Guix"
+	  #:url (manual-url "Package-Management.html"))
+	" is a "
+	,(link-yellow
+	  #:label "purely functional"
+	  #:url (manual-url "Introduction.html#index-functional-package-management"))
+	" package management tool.  In addition to standard package
+		management features, it supports transactional upgrades
+		and roll-backs, unprivileged package management, per-user profiles, "
+	,(link-yellow
+	  #:label "and more"
+	  #:url (manual-url "Features.html"))
+	".")
+
        (li
 	(b "Liberating.")
-	" The Guix System Distribution (GuixSD) is an advanced
-        distribution of the "
+	" The GNU Guix System Distribution (GuixSD) is an advanced
+	 distribution of the "
 	,(link-yellow
 	  #:label "GNU operating system"
 	  #:url (gnu-url "gnu/about-gnu.html"))
@@ -47,34 +64,24 @@
 	,(link-yellow
 	  #:label "GNU Project"
 	  #:url (gnu-url))
-	"—which respects the "
+	", with Guix at its core.  Because GuixSD is "
 	,(link-yellow
-	  #:label "freedom of computer users"
+	  #:label "FSDG"
 	  #:url (gnu-url "distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html"))
-	". ")
-
-       (li
-	(b "Dependable.")
-	" It comes with the "
-	,(link-yellow
-	  #:label "GNU Guix package manager"
-	  #:url (manual-url "Package-Management.html"))
-	", which in addition to standard package management features,
-        supports transactional upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged
-        package management, per-user profiles, "
+	"-compliant, all software in the distribution"
 	,(link-yellow
-	  #:label "and more"
-	  #:url (manual-url "Features.html"))
-	".")
+	  #:label "respects your freedom"
+	  #:url (gnu-url "philosophy/free-sw.html"))
+	". ")
 
        (li
 	(b "Hackable.")
-	" It provides "
+	" Both Guix and GuixSD provide "
 	,(link-yellow
 	  #:label "Guile Scheme"
 	  #:url (gnu-url "software/guile/"))
 	" APIs, including high-level embedded domain-specific
-        languages (EDSLs) to "
+        languages (EDSLs) to declaratively "
 	,(link-yellow
 	  #:label "define packages"
 	  #:url (manual-url "Defining-Packages.html"))
-- 
2.15.1


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