What should a smallweb git repo viewer look like?
7mon 23d ago by feddit.online/u/tuckerm in smolweb@slrpnk.net from repos.tuckerm.us
tldr: What would a smallweb-style "code viewer" look like? What kind of theme and UI elements should it have? Here's my attempt: https://repos.tuckerm.us/ui-experiments/branches/main/demo/
While self-hostable git forges like Forgejo are really cool, I also think they're overkill for most use cases. When I just want to put some side projects up on the web, I don't need an issue tracker or a discussion forum. I know you can disable those features in Forgejo, but what if I just didn't have those features at all? And therefore didn't need much of a backend server?
I recently realized that most of what I want in a git repo viewer can be done with just static HTML files. I started working on that as an 11ty static site generator plugin.
It's very very hacky right now, but it works as a proof of concept. I'm improving it now. If people end up using it, I'm hoping that they customize it to fit the style of their existing personal site. But I want it to come with a default theme so that it can be used right out of the box.
I was playing around with an idea for a look and feel here: https://repos.tuckerm.us/ui-experiments/branches/main/demo/
At first I was using the stock Bootstrap UI components, which are practical and professional. But then I decided that this smallweb repo viewer should have a look and feel that matches the ethos of the project itself: personal, not corporate, and open to being expressive. And not just trying look like Github with no backend.
The current, Bootstrap-styled pages are here, and that is also the repository for the project itself. But I'd love to make it more unique that that.
Does anyone have any input for a look and feel for this project? I'm open to anything. A color palette you like, a basic layout, or general ideas.
Oh whoa, I had seen sites with that UI before but I didn't realize it was build into git itself. I love that look.
I had a job with just gitweb before. It worked surprisingly well before everyone got a gitlab server. We used the tree feature to see all the branches at a time.
I love that kind of mod style. The chunky "language percentages" bar is so cool, and the header "card" area shows pretty much everything I care about in a big bold way.
Thank you, I appreciate the feedback. I was thinking that it would be a good idea to have some kind of header that answered most people's questions about a project right away. And I'm assuming that most people's questions are:
- What is this repo?
- Do I want to use it?
- Can I contribute to it?
I figured the description and language percentages would help answer those questions pretty well. I've always thought that GitHub's approach, showing the file list right away, is really not that useful. You always have to scroll down to get to the readme.