docsify 5.0 roadmap

New Features

• New Feature: Generate static html #136
• New Markdown Syntax: GitHub(or GitLab) Flavored Markdown ref
• New Markdown Syntax: Friendly doc Helpers, #413
• New Option: For relative file paths rather than relative root, fix #593

Breaking Changes

• Remove lib and themes folder from the repo

Deadline

December^maybe February Soon

[jhildenbiddle]

A few additional proposals for 5.x:

1. Triage existing issues first

   I love the new shiny as much as the next guy, but triaging the existing issues before releasing the next major version would make life better for end-users and docsify devs.

   • Mark existing issues as bugs, questions, “won’t fix”, etc.
   • Close issues that can be closed to reduce the noise and let others know the project is actively maintained.
   • Add bugs, enhancements, etc. to the backlog
   • Prioritize/assign bugs/enhancements that need to be addressed for 4.x (pre 5.x release)
   • Identify/assign bugs/enhancements that should be included in the upcoming 5.x release

   I have a handful of issues I filed long ago that I’d love to see addressed. Even if the end result of this effort is simply closing a bunch of old issues, it is worth cleaning house before releasing a significant update that will surely generate its own share of new issues.

2. Reevaluate official support for IE10/11

   The latest version of docsify works in both IE10 and IE11, but the docsify site along with many of the official plugins do not (see screenshots below). If IE compatibility is important, then these issues should be addressed, compatibility requirements should be made more prominent for plugin/theme authors, and some form of testing should be required before third-party plugins/themes can be listed on official documentation. My hunch is that IE10 can be dropped but IE11 support should remain, but I could easily be convinced otherwise.

   docsify.js.org (IE10/11)

   

3. Consider adopting a theme system similar to docsify-themeable

   Docsify currently offers four official themes: vue, buble, dark, and pure. These themes are all more-or-less the same with the exception of a handful of basic style declarations (color, typography, margin/padding, etc). To make development easier, a CSS preprocessor (stylus) is used to compile each theme by combining a shared CSS file with a theme-specific CSS file. Makes sense.

   Docsify-themeable takes a similar approach but offers a much more flexible implementation by leveraging CSS custom properties. The end-user pitch is available on the introduction page, but the approach also provides advantages for docsify maintainers: a single block of CSS used for all themes, with each theme comprised of only a flat list of named values (e.g. --sidebar-background: #ccc) instead of blocks of CSS. Legacy support is also available courtesy of css-vars-ponyfill (which I created specifically for docsify-themeable).

   As a proof of concept, I would be happy to show how easy it is to make docsify-themeable’s default theme look like any of the default docsify themes (vue, buble, dark, and pure) simply be specifying CSS custom properties.

Happy to help with the effort. It’s good to see docsify getting some attention. 😄

[boghyon]

How about dropping IE support altogether?

When counting all browsers (incl. mobile), IE11 usage is now below 0.65%.

^{Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-version-partially-combined-market-share#yearly-2021-2021-bar}

Even if mobile browsers are excluded, IE11’s market share is still below 2% worldwide.^src

Popular frameworks and libraries are dropping IE11 support as well including Bootstrap, Angular, and Vue.js.

I assume the remaining users are mainly companies. However, major business software vendors are abandoning IE11 this year:

• Microsoft services are dropping the IE support. (Source)
• SAP also discontinues IE11 support for their products. (https://github.com/SAP/openui5/issues/1697#issuecomment-705206793)
• Oracle has already stopped caring about IE11 users since July 2020. (Source)

Today, with the new MS Edge (Chromium), IE-only websites can be added to the Enterprise Mode Site List (Watch intro and guide) which Edge then renders in the IE-mode within the same single browser. At the same time, Edge is now also available for all supported Windows versions (7, 8.1, 10, Server, etc.) unlike the classic Edge.

I see no reason to support IE11 in 2021.

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Update: today (May 19, 2021), Microsoft officially announced the EOL of the IE11 support.

The Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will be retired on June 15, 2022.