# Too much time on my hands

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816>\
**Category:** Community\
**Tags:** pkgtemplates\
**Created:** [August 4, 2024, 5:43pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816 "2024-08-04T17:43:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eben60](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eben60/32/13475_2.png) [@Eben60](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eben60)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/41 "2025-06-25T21:46:38Z")

</div>

Almost a year has passed, and now it’s a suitable time for me to look back, and to look forward.

Two new packages I consider finished. One is PackageMaker.jl (discussed above under the name [PackageInABlink](https://github.com/Eben60/PackageInABlink.jl)), which is a GUI wrapper around PkgTemplates.jl. Another one is ShareAdd.jl - a tool which IMHO could be useful to most Julia users.

I have already some idea about what could be a next project. However I’m open to your suggestions. E.g. maybe somebody has a project where I could take over some part (not too complex, not too boring, not too mission critical, not too unimportant 😄).

P.S. Data Science is not my field of expertise.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Mastermage](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/the_mastermage/32/49444_2.png) [@The\_Mastermage](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/The_Mastermage)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/42 "2025-06-27T15:12:55Z")

</div>

Now that is an amazing update love hearing about the contributions. Thank you for the great work.

If I may someone had last year mentioned the VSCode Tooling, which just always needs contributors, if that would be something you are interested in looking into in would want to bump that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PeterSimon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petersimon/32/25193_2.png) [@PeterSimon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PeterSimon)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 4:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/43 "2025-06-27T16:42:17Z")

</div>

> [@Jake](#):
>
> I have very little knowledge of GUI’s but thought [MouseTrap](https://github.com/Clemapfel/Mousetrap.jl) and [MousetrapMakie](https://github.com/Clemapfel/MousetrapMakie.jl) to be interesting. I think the author went on leave for some health issues, and there were some things not working so I never followed up.

I would like to second this past suggestion. Julia needs an easy-to-use GUI capability that doesn’t require the user to already be proficient in Qt, GTK, Javascript, or other technologies besides Julia. This is the last piece of the puzzle IMO for Julia to be competitive with Matlab for a certain class of working engineers.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eben60](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eben60/32/13475_2.png) [@Eben60](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eben60)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/44 "2025-06-27T17:45:30Z")

</div>

> [@Jake](#):
>
> I have very little knowledge of GUI’s but thought [MouseTrap](https://github.com/Clemapfel/Mousetrap.jl) and [MousetrapMakie](https://github.com/Clemapfel/MousetrapMakie.jl) to be interesting.

I’d not think it is realistic for me. There may also be other arguments against, but the first one suffice.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eben60](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eben60/32/13475_2.png) [@Eben60](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eben60)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/45 "2025-06-27T18:26:43Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Mastermage](#):
>
> VSCode Tooling, which just always needs contributors

I’ve thought of it, too. Most probably it’s beyond my abilities, too, but let’s see.

An important thing for me is also the relation `frustration/fun`, which may be quite unfavorable in such a project for different reasons.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![abraemer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/abraemer/32/51403_2.png) [@abraemer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/abraemer)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/46 "2025-06-27T19:30:09Z")

</div>

Here is a thought: AI Coding Tools improve quite rapidly. Especially for “boring” stuff they are quite good and usable already. I imagine that VSCode extensions fall into this category (JavaScript/TypeScript definitely does). If you are interested in using that technology generally, then trying to accomplish some things on a VSCode extension could potentially be a nice project. And you’ll probably learn some new things about JS/TS 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hz-xiaxz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/hz-xiaxz/32/209585_2.png) [@hz-xiaxz](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/hz-xiaxz)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 5:33am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/47 "2025-06-28T05:33:00Z")

</div>

Just to mention that [GitHub - domluna/JuliaFormatter.jl: An opinionated code formatter for Julia. Plot twist - the opinion is your own.](https://github.com/domluna/JuliaFormatter.jl) needs some help to update to JuliaSyntax v1. This is an important tooling for the community and everyone would appreciate work on this, though, I had to admit this might not be too much `fun` work.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheCedarPrince](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/thecedarprince/32/17323_2.png) [@TheCedarPrince](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/TheCedarPrince)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/48 "2025-06-28T16:43:26Z")

</div>

Just another thought: could you make a tool to help us migrate Documenter.jl documentation to DocumenterVitepress.jl? Both are nice documentation offerings, but I find it challenging to migrate Documenter → DocumenterVitepress personally and it takes some time. If there was a package that did this mostly automatically, that would be amazing! 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eben60](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eben60/32/13475_2.png) [@Eben60](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eben60)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/49 "2025-06-28T16:47:24Z")

</div>

I’ll take a look: That could be realistic.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheCedarPrince](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/thecedarprince/32/17323_2.png) [@TheCedarPrince](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/TheCedarPrince)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/50 "2025-06-28T16:48:58Z")

</div>

Great! If there is any info or thoughts I could add, let me know; I’ve worked with both packages quite a lot! I thought you might find it interesting since it kinda goes along in spirit with your previous packages that you were working on.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juliohm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/juliohm/32/215266_2.png) [@juliohm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/juliohm)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/51 "2025-06-28T16:52:44Z")

</div>

I personally find DocumenterVitepress.jl terrible. It was not made with end users in mind. Documentation is harder to read IMHO.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eben60](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eben60/32/13475_2.png) [@Eben60](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eben60)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/52 "2025-06-28T17:25:16Z")

</div>

> [@TheCedarPrince](#):
>
> it kinda goes along in spirit with your previous packages

First and foremost, with [documentation generator](https://github.com/PainterQubits/Unitful.jl/pull/704) for Unitful.jl 😀

> [@Eben60](#):
>
> I’ll take a look:

Now, my first questions:

- What is the rationale of migration to VitePress?
- VitePress is currently at v2.0.0-alpha. In now the suitable timing for migration?
- Any examples of DocumenterVitepress.jl docs sites?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juliohm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/juliohm/32/215266_2.png) [@juliohm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/juliohm)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/53 "2025-06-28T17:38:34Z")

</div>

> [@Eben60](#):
>
> What is the rationale of migration to VitePress?

None.

And keep in mind that VitePress requires external dependencies that are not written in Julia. It simply complicates the documentation builds. At least that is what I remember the last time I looked into it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheCedarPrince](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/thecedarprince/32/17323_2.png) [@TheCedarPrince](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/TheCedarPrince)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/54 "2025-06-28T17:42:53Z")

</div>

Great questions! Let me see if I can help; I’ll also CC the DocumenterVitepress guru @asinghvi17 for adding additional thoughts:

> [@Eben60](#):
>
> - What is the rationale of migration to VitePress?

These are my own subjective thoughts but:

1. The searching built into DocumenterVitepress is super robust. It is much nicer and featureful than the search in Documenter.jl
2. I find the layout to be a bit more intuitive and the organization hierarchy easier to manage (i.e. you can have tabs and drop-down tabs for multiple pages)
3. Navigation across pages feels easier
4. Highly subjective but I think it looks quite beautiful and streamlined for advertising a package

> [@Eben60](#):
>
> - VitePress is currently at v2.0.0-alpha. In now the suitable timing for migration?

I’ll let @asinghvi17 answer on this; it’s a good question. I didn’t realize that was the current version so thanks for the heads-up!

> [@Eben60](#):
>
> - Any examples of [DocumenterVitepress.jl](https://juliaregistries.github.io/General/packages/redirect_to_repo/DocumenterVitepress) docs sites?

Sure! Here are some nice ones:

1. [Makie.jl](https://docs.makie.org/stable/)
2. [Lux.jl](https://lux.csail.mit.edu/stable/)
3. [Tidier.jl](https://tidierorg.github.io/Tidier.jl/v1.6.1/)

In particular, I like how nice it can be for larger ecosystems like Makie or Tidier. Feels like it can help with unifying things.

* * *

Let me know if I can help with any more thoughts or pointers! 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eben60](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eben60/32/13475_2.png) [@Eben60](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eben60)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/55 "2025-06-28T19:27:52Z")

</div>

> [@TheCedarPrince](#):
>
> > [@Eben60](#):
> >
> > - Any examples of [DocumenterVitepress.jl](https://juliaregistries.github.io/General/packages/redirect_to_repo/DocumenterVitepress) docs sites?
> 
> Sure! Here are some nice ones:

Well, first and foremost obviously the docs of the DocumenterVitepress.jl 😁

Now, the documentation of the Documenter.jl itself, in the ideal case, should

- Illustrate how the standard no-frills Documenter-produced docs look like. That is what IMO \>90% package authors are interested in and would be happy with,
- Showcase some special options,
- Well, actually document the package.

For the first two items, the Documenter.jl docs should be produced with Documenter.jl itself. IMO it would be very strange to have it done with some additional package.

> [@TheCedarPrince](#):
>
> - I find the layout to be a bit more intuitive and the organization hierarchy easier to manage (i.e. you can have tabs and drop-down tabs for multiple pages)
> - Navigation across pages feels easier
> - Highly subjective but I think it looks quite beautiful and streamlined for advertising a package

All these three items are equally subjective. Actually I find the Documenter navigation easier, also because it is consistent between many packages and the docs of Julia itself.

As for advertising a package: The docs of e.g. Makie.jl should be beautiful, if possible. The docs of Documenter.jl could better be modest and functional.

In short: Maybe I’m misunderstanding or overlooking something, but as I see it now, I’d strongly prefer for Documenter.jl docs to stay as they are, i.e. produced by the package itself.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eben60](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eben60/32/13475_2.png) [@Eben60](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eben60)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/56 "2025-06-28T19:52:10Z")

</div>

> [@juliohm](#):
>
> And keep in mind that VitePress requires external dependencies that are not written in Julia.

On the cursory check of the DocumenterVitepress.jl, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Are you sure? In any case this is IMO irrelevant for the case in question.

> [@juliohm](#):
>
> None.

May I politely note you are not in the position to know it for sure, as it was not your decision 😐

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juliohm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/juliohm/32/215266_2.png) [@juliohm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/juliohm)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/57 "2025-06-28T20:41:01Z")

</div>

> [@Eben60](#):
>
> May I politely note you are not in the position to know it for sure, as it was not your decision 😐

Of course. What I am trying to say is that the DocumenterVitepress.jl movement is **not** a community movement. It is a movement by 3 or 4 people. That is why I interfered to make sure it is crystal clear to anyone interested in this topic that Documenter.jl is the most widely adopted documentation system for Julia packages.

Appreciate the polite note.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TheCedarPrince](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/thecedarprince/32/17323_2.png) [@TheCedarPrince](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/TheCedarPrince)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/58 "2025-06-28T23:04:19Z")

</div>

Ah those are totally fair points! Yea, I agree with your back of the envelope estimate of ~90% of package authors are interested in something more no frills – although I may slightly drop that estimate to 80% 😂

> [@Eben60](#):
>
> In short: Maybe I’m misunderstanding or overlooking something, but as I see it now, I’d strongly prefer for [Documenter.jl](https://juliaregistries.github.io/General/packages/redirect_to_repo/Documenter) docs to stay as they are, i.e. produced by the package itself.

Ah that might’ve been me not being terribly clear: I was thinking of a tool that could migrate previous repos that use Documenter.jl to DocumenterVitepress.jl. Definitely would not want to change what Documenter.jl is doing at all and as DocumenterVitepress builds on Documenter.jl, it would not. What I was hopeful for was that if there was a tool that could make this transfer easier.

As an example, within JuliaHealth, we are trying to more or less migrate a majority of our package documentation to DocumenterVitepress to modernize it as well as promote consistency and branding of JuliaHealth across our packages.

* * *

But yea, this is a highly subjective thing, but I was thinking it could be a fun/nice option. But definitely if it doesn’t inspire you, then this could be a project for another day!

Thanks so much for the consideration nonetheless @Eben60, eager to see what you come up. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eben60](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/eben60/32/13475_2.png) [@Eben60](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Eben60)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 7:24am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/59 "2025-06-29T07:24:50Z")

</div>

> [@Eben60](#):
>
> Maybe I’m misunderstanding

OK, so it obviously a misunderstanding. So, you don’t want to migrate the documentation of Documenter.jl itself, which can be found under [Home · Documenter.jl](https://documenter.juliadocs.org/stable/) , to have that very documentation to be produced by anything else than Documenter.jl – do you?

Now, DocumenterVitepress.jl tells:

> ## Basic usage
> 
> 1. Import the package in `make.jl`,
> 2. Pass `format = DocumenterVitepress.MarkdownVitepress(...)` to `makedocs` …
> 
> ```julia
> using Documenter
> using DocumenterVitepress
> makedocs(;
> format=DocumenterVitepress.MarkdownVitepress(repo = "...", devbranch = "...", devurl = "dev"),
> )
> 
> ```
> 
> and enjoy the fruits of your labour!

Do I understand you correctly, that’s not enough, and some additional conversions are desirable?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tp2750](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tp2750/32/207806_2.png) [@tp2750](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tp2750)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816/60 "2025-07-13T16:09:11Z")

</div>

How about this: [JuliaPackageComparisons is looking for a new maintainer](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/juliapackagecomparisons-is-looking-for-a-new-maintainer/130667)?

[Previous page](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816.md?page=2)

[Next page](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/too-much-time-on-my-hands/117816.md?page=4)