Designing the Site?

Solution: Bootstrap

• Turns out theming is easy
• Easy to clone any existing site
• Use Bootstrap for framework

Conditional filtering?

Solution: Liquid

{% if site.audience == "administrators" %}
show this to administrators
{% elsif site.audience == "analysts" %}
show this to analysts
{% endif %}

Multiple outputs?

Solution: Multiple config files

• Separate config files for each variant
• Each config file has various properties
  (audience, platform, product, version)
• Create scripts that compile build commands

Sample build command:

//build administrators output
jekyll build --config config_administrators.yml --destination ../outputs/admins

//build analysts output
jekyll build --config config_analysts.yml --destination ../outputs/analysts

Multi-level navigation menu?

Solution: Separate data from presentation

• Store menu items in YAML file
• "for" loop in HTML layout parses through YAML
• Navgoco jQuery component handles other aspects (expand/collapse, cookie, accordion)

Alerts: Notes, tips, cautions?

Solution: Includes with Parameters

• Store note code as include
• Pass parameters with include code

// create the note.html include:

Note: {{include.content}}

//use it like this:

{% include note.html content="My note content goes here ..." %}

Avoiding broken links?

Solution: YAML-based links

• Iterate through TOC to create YAML file to get link URLs
• Push them into Markdown reference format
• Include at the bottom of each file

PDF output?

Solution: Prince XML

• Iterate through sidebar menu to get list of links
• Feed the list of links to Prince XML
• Store command in shell script

Re-use across projects?

Solution: Single project for writers

• All writers work in same project
• Collaborate through version control
• Each project stored in its own subfolder
• Exclude other directories in each project's config file

Version control workflows?

Solution: Learn the needed workflow

• Focus only on necessary Git commands
• Coordinate more among team members
• Avoid simultaneously editing the same page
• Look regularly at commit logs

Simplicity?

Solution: Stick with Core Jekyll

• Avoid plugins or overly complicated code
• Have all writers work in same project
• Stop changing processes/code each month
• Establish standards and provide training

Search?

Solution: Swiftype or Algolia

• Implementation requires UX skills
• More difficult if content isn't public

Translation?

Solution: Separate projects

• Separate out UI strings into data file
• Send out Markdown files for translation
• Create new project with translated files