Hi Harish, Thanks, I see improvements.
I have a few more comments below only for home page : 1. Menu is still not responsive. I was expecting a burger icon in mobile mode. 2. Menu 'Releases' is missing in mobile mode 3. Font selection and sizes of menu is not matching 4. Is it possible to display any drop down menu just on hover of menu items ? 5. Is it possible to have any sub menu items. For ex : Under DOCS - > 6. Why did we change menu 'DOCS' to 'Documentation' ? I don't know what was agreed though. 7. Missing 'Apache' menu here, which I think it's there for a reason. 8. Logo on the top teft in home page - 'Apache Kafka' is probably is in white color making it hidden. We only see half the logo, not text. 9. For transportation 8 out of 10 icon, there seems to be another 'right or tick' symbol on top of flight. 10. We see 6 of these cards like 'Manufacturing 10 out of 10' etc, but missing 'See full list' which should redirect to Testimonials ? 11. Can we make these 6 use case cards get closer and shrink in size similar to existing docs may be ? It would look better. 12. There are various font types used in existing docs in home page which make it more professional which am missing in the staging. 13. There is a huge unexpected gap between text and images (Manufacturing...) 14. Text is missing 'Above is a snapshot of the number of top-ten largest companies using Kafka, per-industry.' 15. We are missing the full footer here 'The contents of this website are © 2025 Apache Software Foundation under the terms of the Apache License v2. Apache Kafka, Kafka, and the Kafka logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation in the United States and other countries.Security | Donate | Thanks | Events | License | Privacy' 16. Missing ASF leaf icon at the bottom right 17. Can we use the same font style here for text 'Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed....' 18. Is there a way to highlight 'Download Kafka' which am missing here. It has a great look there in existing docs. 19. For ex let's consider this text: Mission Critical Support mission-critical use cases with guaranteed ordering, zero message loss, and efficient exactly-once processing. Has different font settings. 20. 3 Cards in a row like 'High throughput' could have some side space on both sides of the page. This is not aligned with content above. Consider some free space to get an elegant look. I am being too picky about this homepage, but I'm trying to give it a look similar to our existing pages without deviating too much. So far great work in getting the content there but let's focus on text, font colors, sizes, etc to make it much more professional. Will look at the other pages soon. Thanks, Murali On Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 4:45 PM Harish Vishwanath <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Murali, > > Thank you very much for taking the time to provide such detailed and > valuable feedback on the staging site.I was able to address all the issues > you raised. > > The latest version of the staging site, available at [ > https://kafka.staged.apache.org/](https://kafka.staged.apache.org/), > reflects these fixes. Please take a moment to review the updated site at > your convenience. > > Here is a summary of the issues you pointed out and the corresponding > updates: > > - **Responsiveness:** The staging link is now fully responsive, addressing > layout issues with the menu and logo on various devices. > > - **Favicon and Title:** The favicon and page titles are now properly set. > > - **Homepage Cards:** > > - The repeated "Manufacturing" block on the home page has been removed. > > - The display of the 'Core capabilities' and 'Ecosystem' cards has been > adjusted to ensure they are visually distinct and include proper headers. > > - **Interactive Elements (Streams API):** Implemented an interactive > carousel. > > - **- Code Snippets:** The selection for Java/Scala in code snippets is > now functional. > > - **- Testimonials Alignment:** The Testimonials section, including use > cases like Zalando and Rabobank, has been realigned, and the card sizing > has been adjusted. > > - **Next/Previous Buttons:** 'Next' and 'Previous' navigation buttons have > been implemented on documentation pages to improve sequential browsing. > > - Several other improvements and refresh including the latest commits. > > > Regards, > Harish > > > On Mon, Nov 3, 2025 at 11:38 PM Muralidhar Basani > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Harish, > > Indeed, this is a significant progress. Thank you. > > > > I have noticed the below on a few pages I was hovering on. While these > > could be applied on almost all pages. > > > > General : > > 1. Staging link is not fully responsive (mobile, different devices). > (Menu, > > logo for example) > > 2. Favicon and title are not set > > > > Home page : > > 3. I see cards like Manufacturing, Insurance, Telecom etc usecases which > > are screenwide and felt like clickable. On existing docs, these cards are > > bit small and doesn't feel like they should be nagivated to some other > > page. And the Manufacturing block is repeated. > > 4. Headers are missing in the cards further below > > 'Core capabilities' & 'Ecosystem' > > I believe it's important to have a title. > > > > As an example I am using this page for next points. > > https://kafka.staged.apache.org/41/streams/introduction/ > > > > 5. Video embeddings are screen wide. Could be nice if the size is > shrinked > > abit. > > 6. There is an interactive way to select steps here 'TOUR OF THE STREAMS > > API' in existing docs which is missing and videos seem to be there > without > > getting user's attention. > > 7. Code snippets > > I cannot see or select Java/Scala > > 8. Use cases like Zalando, Rabobank are moved to Testimonials but the > cards > > are not properly aligned. Could be nice if the card size is reduced abit > > and > > 9. In this https://kafka.staged.apache.org/41/streams/ it could be nice > to > > have a lowered font size for 'The easiest way to write mission-critical > > real-time applications and microservices' > > 10. Interactive steps are missing for 'Write your First App' which exist > in > > existing docs. This gives the user a good overview of the steps to be > done > > before starting. > > > > https://kafka.staged.apache.org/41/security/ > > > > 11. Content is repeated for example : > > Security Overview > > Security Overview > > May be some other description if already exists. > > > > 12. In general on all these category pages, it could be nice to have > brief > > intro of that the page is about. > > Ex on https://kafka.staged.apache.org/41/streams/ > > > > 13. Pages like Donate ( > > https://kafka.staged.apache.org/community/apache/donate/) doesn't lead > to > > anywhere instead of https://www.apache.org/foundation/sponsorship.html > > > > 14. Under the Configuration menu section, it would be beneficial to have > > submenus such as 'Broker configs' and 'Topic configs'. > > > > 15. For menu APIs, it would be nice to have submenus. Could be applied > for > > all other menus. > > > > Is it possible to have 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons on pages > > > > I can imagine we cannot have the exact look and feel and functionality > what > > we have in existing docs, but I feel certain aspects are important to > > achieve here as well to engage the user experience. > > > > Thanks, > > Murali > > > > On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 6:03 AM Harish Vishwanath < > [email protected] > > > > > wrote: > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > Back in April, I started a discussion with KIP-1133: AK Documentation > and > > > Website in Markdown. (Link: > > > > > > > > > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KAFKA/KIP-1133%3A+AK+Documentation+and+Website+in+Markdown > > > ). > > > The KIP proposes migrating the Kafka website and its documentation from > > the > > > current system (which uses raw HTML files) to a modern, Markdown-based > > > system. > > > > > > I'm happy to report that since the KIP was approved, significant > progress > > > has been made, and a version is now ready for community review. > > > > > > *Progress Highlights:* > > > > > > 1. > > > > > > *Staging Site:* A full version of the website, built from Markdown, > is > > > now live at: *https://kafka.staged.apache.org/ > > > <https://kafka.staged.apache.org/>* > > > 2. > > > > > > *Source Code:* The Markdown source is available on the markdown > branch > > > of the kafka-site repository: > > > https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/tree/markdown > > > 3. > > > > > > *CI/CD Pipeline:* A GitHub Actions pipeline is fully configured. ( > > > https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/actions) > > > - > > > > > > It automatically builds and deploys commits/PRs from the markdown > > > branch to the staging site. > > > - > > > > > > It also builds a Docker image for easy local preview. You can run > > it > > > locally with: docker run -p 8080:80 > > > ghcr.io/apache/kafka-site:markdown > > > 4. > > > > > > *Conversion Tooling:* An automation pipeline was developed to > perform > > > the HTML-to-Markdown conversion, which can be found here: > > > https://github.com/hvishwanath/ak2md > > > 5. > > > > > > *Local Development:* Makefiles are included to ease local > development > > > and iteration. > > > 6. > > > > > > *Developer README:* Comprehensive instructions on how to build the > > site > > > and make updates are available in the README: > > > https://github.com/apache/kafka-site/blob/markdown/README.md > > > > > > *Call for Review (Now - Nov 30):* > > > > > > I would like to formally invite the community to review the staging > site > > > and the Markdown source code. > > > > > > - > > > > > > *What to look for:* Please compare the staging site ( > > > https://kafka.staged.apache.org/) with the live site ( > > > https://kafka.apache.org/) and look for any rendering issues, > broken > > > links, content discrepancies, or formatting errors. > > > - > > > > > > *How to fix:* If you find any issues, please feel free to submit a > PR > > > directly against the markdown branch. This is a great opportunity to > > fix > > > any small typos or formatting issues you may have seen in the docs. > > > > > > This has been a huge undertaking, and you will likely spot minor issues > > > like broken links or rendering quirks. Many of these stem from > > > inconsistencies in the original HTML source, which I have done my best > to > > > detect and fix via automation. I strongly encourage the community to > view > > > these as non-gating issues that can be easily fixed post-migration, > > rather > > > than blockers for the cut-over itself. > > > > > > *Proposed Cut-over Plan:* > > > > > > To move this forward, I propose the following plan: > > > > > > 1. > > > > > > *Now – Nov 30: Community Review Period* > > > - > > > > > > The community reviews the staging site and source code. > > > - > > > > > > Fixes are submitted as PRs directly to the markdown branch. > > > 2. > > > > > > *Dec 1: Final Sync* > > > - > > > > > > I will perform one final refresh from the main repository to pull > > in > > > any last-minute documentation changes from the HTML source. > > > 3. > > > > > > *First Week of Dec: Start [VOTE] Thread* > > > - > > > > > > I will start a formal vote thread to ask the community to approve > > the > > > cut-over to the new Markdown-based site. > > > 4. > > > > > > *If the Vote Passes:* > > > - > > > > > > We will migrate the source documentation in the docs directory of > > the > > > apache/kafka repository to Markdown for versions *3.5 and newer*. > > > - > > > > > > Older versions (pre-3.5) will be left as-is (HTML) in the kafka > > repo > > > to avoid disruption. > > > - > > > > > > The GitHub Actions will be updated to deploy the markdown branch > to > > > the live production site. > > > - > > > > > > A key benefit of this change: any future bug fixes needed for > > *older* > > > (pre-3.5) documentation can be made directly in the kafka-site > > > repository, decoupling them from the main Kafka release process. > > > > > > Finally, I want to extend a huge and sincere thank you to *David > Arthur*. > > > His guidance, detailed code reviews, help in refactoring the CI > pipeline, > > > and merging PRs over the last several months have been invaluable in > > > getting this KIP to its current state. > > > > > > Please take a look at the staging site and let me know your thoughts. > > > > > > Regards, > > > Harish > > > > > >
