Beefing up the Lemur docs slowly but surely

The landing page has been improved for the github repo:

I’ve also added a “Getting Started” page which will hopefully help new users:

And I’ve now started a more complete “Documentation” page though it is still way under construction:

And I’ve pushed up the latest API javadocs:
http://jmonkeyengine-contributions.github.io/Lemur/javadoc/Lemur/
http://jmonkeyengine-contributions.github.io/Lemur/javadoc/LemurProto/

Going to include my Patreon link here just for completeness:

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The patreon link doesn’t work. You are loosing millions as we speak!

Weird. It works when I clicked it… not sure what else it should be.

It does work for me.

It works now. Previously it just added the Patreon URL after the current GitHub URL. On Firefox.

Sounds like the github forced redirect was failing then… the only thing I’ve changed in the last 20 minutes was to ad the ty=h on the end so that it would take people to the home tab instead of ‘random’.

Edit: though I’m not seeing a redirect on this link… so… who knows.

Added a link to the fledgling documentation page:

And the API javadoc links:
http://jmonkeyengine-contributions.github.io/Lemur/javadoc/Lemur/
http://jmonkeyengine-contributions.github.io/Lemur/javadoc/LemurProto/

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More work done here. Last night I wrote a relatively simple gradle plugin to generate ‘table of contents’ (TOC) for a set of pages. Tonight I added the ability to insert page-level TOC into a specific page.

Example:

…and you can see the full documentation table of contents in the side panel.

That page is where the components are documented that are what the real GUI elements are made from and are the primary things setup in styles. So far, I’ve only documented the two most important components but perhaps those of you semi-familiar with them can check to see if those two sections are clear enough.

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I think/hope there are a few Lemur users lurking on the forum. I “think” that I’ve fully fleshed out the table of contents for the documentation… even if I haven’t written it all yet.

It would be great if you guys could glance through the topics and see if there is an important concept that I’ve missed:

…it’s in the sidebar on the right.

I will do tutorials separately as they don’t fit in a TOC well… and may someday add a FAQ. Otherwise, I think I’ve covered all of the topics… but I already know them so I have my doubts. :slight_smile:

Edit: Also, if there is some section that you are more desperate for than another then I can probably adjust my priority and make sure it gets done sooner. Though I’ll likely knock out one or two more tonight anyway.

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That’s huge work you’re doing here. It looks very thorough.

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Thanks. I felt it was kind of overdue by now. :smile:

…though the current situation is a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I only get users who can understand it by reading the code… which means they are less likely to report problems. On the other hand, I then rarely hear from my users even though I know I have them. Though I guess good documentation won’t really fix that problem either. :smile:

Writing documentation is kind of like filling in a swimming pool with dirt in that if I do my job right I never hear from anyone ever again. They just come eat their picnic lunch at the new park.

Added a section on the styling API.

@nehon, especially, I’d appreciate a glance through it to see if this would have saved you time once. :slight_smile:

Not sure you owe something more to the community, but it’s really appreciated :wink:
gonna look into the doc

In the Note where you explain that margin and inset are handled the swing way and not the css way. In css there is no “inset”, it’s called margin and padding. But yeah it’s backward : lemur margin is css padding, and lemur inset is css margin.

Other than that I found it pretty clear and instructive.

Also in my local copy of lemur I added some built in functions like insets if I remember correctly.
I’ll do a PR if you want.

Sure. That would be great… that at some point I need to add you and eric to the ‘team’ probably.

Tweaked the text slightly:

Note: Lemur’s default GUI Elements adopt Swing’s concept of “insets” and “magins” rather that CSS’s concept of “insets” and “padding”.
To those familiar with CSS, margins and insets will seem backwards.
“Insets” define how much space a GUI element has around it within its
parent layout. “Margin” defines how much space a GUI element has inside
its own border/background layer.

Hi
I just look at your patreon. First of all I’m really sorry for what happened to your wife.
Next , I really love this sentence of your “Software development is in my blood”.
I am a newbie and have lots of dream.
I hope I can continue your way in open source development.

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actually it should be :
Note: Lemur’s default GUI Elements adopt Swing’s concept of “insets” and “magins” rather that CSS’s concept of “margin” and “padding”. To those familiar with CSS, margins and insets will seem backwards.“Insets” define how much space a GUI element has around it within its parent layout. “Margin” defines how much space a GUI element has inside its own border/background layer.

Hahah… I got it exactly backwards. :smile:

Fixed, I think.

Is there a atlas feature in lemur like tonegodgui and nifty that will combine all elements into a single object per atlas texture?