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Repo: Prepare for General Availability #112
Description
Here are the remaining tasks before the new website here can replace the current "homepage" website:
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Check the English wording of the main pages titles and content: go to the staging deployment, check the homepage, and every other major section pages (use the links on the top header and bottom footer). Odd sentence or typo? Report it or open a PR to fix it!
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Update the news section with the latest articles from WordPress.
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Add and improve some nice illustrations for CAM, FEM, BIM, TechDraw, Mesh, and more. See the guidelines for more info.
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CMS config update with latest improvements. TODO @marcuspollio
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Merge and test the server-side redirects: Website URLs: Links redirects and aliases #89
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Sort out the CrowdIn yes or no issue: Bug: CrowdIn integration needs to be reconsidered #111
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Clarify if any forum/wiki/addon/telemetry stuff/data on website domain could cause some conflicts. Repo: Sort out potential domain and server conflicts #116
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Prepare the production deployment setup.
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Invite translators to provide translations via documented workflow. TODO @marcuspollio
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Check and fix last minute issues. TODO @marcuspollio
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Update release data once the final assets are out. TODO @maxwxyz
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Anything more? Deploy into production!
Activity
marcuspollio commentedon Oct 22, 2026
Hi everyone!
Could I kindly ask some folks for help, to complete the website project?
@concretedog @CRogersMedia @JohnOCFII any native English speakers? Thanks
@prokoudine or @concretedog ?
@sliptonic @Connor9220 @awgrover @tarman3 for CAM? @FEA-eng @marioalexis84 @ickby for FEM? @semhustej @Roy-043 @furgo16 @markkomartin for BIM? @MortenVajhoj @ryankembrey for TechDraw? Thank you
Feel free to open a new issue or ask here directly.
Thank you very much in advance! Have a good one!
JohnOCFII commentedon Oct 22, 2026
I think the new site looks great! I read through the main pages and checked the links from the main page.
One comment/question: On the Community page, I think it would make sense to link to areas where the FreeCAD users and developers gather. I'd expect to see links to the Forum and to the Discord. Does that make sense to add here? https://staging.freecad.org/community/
maxwxyz commentedon Oct 22, 2026
@marcuspollio the staging.freecad.org site shows still the "Work in Progress...Come backsoon" version, not the one from freecad.github.io/Website/
It looks good and for me this can go live into production and incrementally updated / improved (images/content) on the go. It is already 100% better than the current site!
Would it be possible to release the new site before RC3 so we can merge the link changes to the app before RC3 is build?
chennes commentedon Oct 23, 2026
I should note that there are a lot of moving pieces here: we should be careful not to succumb to "go fever" in our haste to launch the new site. If we simply cut over, we'll break, among other things:
We cannot just decide that the Hugo site is good enough, so we must be ready to go: there is still quite a bit of groundwork that must be done. I have a plan for all of the pieces I know about, but each one requires individual, careful handling, and testing post-crossover.
marcuspollio commentedon Oct 23, 2026
Hi @JohnOCFII
Thanks for having a look and the encouraging words!
Yeah, there has been no design for the Community page yet. Adding some links and a bit of context/buttons/whatever to places the FreeCAD community gathers makes total sense there (in addition to the existing "social" links in the footer).
How do you propose to achieve that? Should it be some concise text, some pictures, or simply icons/buttons? Should it be above or below the "cards" (i.e. Calendar, Events, FPA, etc)? Do you have any reference of similar pages you find cool and fitting?
@maxwxyz Thanks for the report. Is the "Work in Progress...Come backsoon" still shown now? Have you tried to force refresh the page?
Hi @chennes
Thanks for the detailed message!
Yeah, I totally agree the careful path (i.e. take the time needed to make sure most aspects are sorted out and ready) is more appropriate, despite the eagerness of some 😅
Personally, I do not mind if this website goes live along 27.1 or even later. It has already been in the works for a while now, a little more time to ensure its success is preferable. We can improve the content and refine certain aspects of the workflow in the meantime (e.g. translations, CMS, Community page, Academy, infra docs, API, etc).
I've added a new issue to track these items.
chennes commentedon Oct 24, 2026
From a server standpoint, we're now ready to go: we have two Incus containers running, one for staging and one for production. They are both "live" in the sense that they are real functioning nginx servers that can be fully deployed into via the workflows here. Staging is publicly accessible right now. Production is tested and ready to go, with the new nginx site conf file authored and ready for activation. I've tested that conf file on a "rehearsal" site and everything works as expected. After the cutover I have another set of tests I will run, but basically the infrastructure is now ready for the new site to go live. Once you're ready it will only take a few seconds to reconfigure the server to deliver the updated site, so give me the word when you are ready.
maxwxyz commentedon Oct 24, 2026
@marcuspollio it's working now