[Xsb-development] technical summary in web page

[Terry S. <ts...@cs...>]

All:

	Now that we are on sourceforge our web site is getting more
attention, and Im trying to rewrite (with help :-) the technical
summary portion.  I've started to rewrite the recent ALP newsletter
blurb for this purpose.  What I'd like is to have relatively short
technical summary readable in a quick sitting, but with links to other
pages where the reader can obtain more detailed information about
various topics including a more detailed description, where to look in
the manual, (at a general level) a bibliography, and anything else we
might want to add.

	As an first, rough pass, I've modified the prose of the ALP
newsletter blurb a little and for 11 topic areas put in links to
potential blurbs, which currently are nearly blank templates.  Those
interested can help in the following manner: 

	1) Read and comment on the technical summary page.  I dont
expect any major comments here, as it is pretty similar to the ALP
blurb sent out a couple of weeks ago.

	2) Help write the topic blurbs!  I think we should try to keep
each of the blurbs easily readable (e.g. no more than 3-4 screens
full).  I am happy to write blurbs for those topics that I've worked
on myself, but I'm not the best person to write up certain areas.  In
doing so, you may come up with good ideas about

	2a) The template form for blurbs.  I've kept it simple for
	now.

	2b) Splitting and joining blurbs.  The areas called out from
the top level range from the relatively specific (e.g. SLG resolution,
HiLog) to fairly general (engine implementation).  As we write them we
may either want to call out more areas from the top level or have some
sort of hierarchy within the specific topics (e.g. from engine
implementation have blurbs for scheduling, memory management, table
access, etc).

	3) Making the format slicker.  My html, use of backgrounds,
etc is pretty basic.  If you are more technically adept than me about
creating web pages, you can probably improve the look.

	I'm sending everyone out a tarball of the first pass.  Please
comment, or help if you feel comfortable doing so.

Terry