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Deprecate Static Site Editor and remove category

Eric Schurterrequested to merge
editor-category-update into master

Deprecate and remove the Static Site Editor

I propose we deprecate the Static Site Editor in 14.7 and remove it as a standalone feature and category as soon as possible. We should be able to remove it as soon as we can redirect incoming traffic to the Web IDE and allow users to edit Markdown files opened in the Web IDE using the WYSIWYG Content Editor.

Why now?

  • The Static Site Editor is one of many categories maintained by the Editor group and removing it will allow us to focus on a more integrated static site management offering
  • Removing the older WYSIWYG editor (ToastUI), what the Static Site Editor is based on, from the codebase limits security risks and engineering time spent maintaining under-utilized code
  • The time it would take to bring the new Content Editor (currently being used in the Wiki) back to the Static Site Editor is not justifiable given the current and near-term projected MAU of the Static Site Editor (<20 users)
  • The Editor group plans to inherit the Pages category in FY23-Q1 and with it, begin to investigate a more integrated static site management offering. Essentially, Static Site Editor is being consumed by Pages.
  • In the near term, we can realize almost all of the benefits the current Static Site Editor feature offers by making it possible to edit Markdown files in a repository using the Content Editor. We intend to have a solution for that prior to the removal of the Static Site Editor.

👉 Further business justification is documented in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/Product/-/issues/3166 which is confidential so it can reference non-public usage data.

Approvals

Merge requests with changes to stages and groups and significant changes to categories need to be created, approved, and/or merged by each of the below:

  • Chief Product Officer @sfwgitlab
  • VP of Product @adawar
  • The Product Director relevant to the stage group(s)
  • The Engineering Director relevant to the stage group(s)
  • Director of Product Design @vkarnes
  • CEO

The following people need to be on the merge request so they stay informed:

  • Chief Technology Officer @edjdev
  • Vice President of Development @clefelhocz1
  • Vice President of Quality @meks
  • Vice President of User Experience @clenneville
  • The Product Marketing Manager relevant to the stage group(s)
  • Senior Manager, Technical Writing @susantacker

Sequence

Changes:

Update categories and direction to reflect deprecation and justification

  • Update Editor group direction page
  • Update Static Site Editor direction page
  • Update Web IDE direction page
  • Update Content Editor direction page
  • Update Pages direction page
  • Get approvals

Create Deprecation

  • Reopen deprecation issue - Issue
  • Update Static Site Editor documentation - MR
  • Create deprecation yml file - MR

Removal in 15.0

  • Create removal MR for release post
  • Update documentation
  • Update categories.yml
  • Update features.yml
  • Update stages.yml

After Approvals and Merge

Edited by Eric Schurter

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