Eclipse "New and Noteworthy" Template

Last revised June 29, 2009

This is the template for the "New and Noteworthy" document that accompanies each Eclipse project milestone build.

Note: This template document is XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Please use the W3C XHTML Markup Validation Service to check your document's markup before submitting. This will detect screwed up HTML tags, images without an "alt" attrribute, and other tedious little details.

Eclipse component
Item title, in bold, no trailing punctuation, with unique id attribute on <tr> A blurb pitched to the Eclipse community (not just to members of the Eclipse Platform development team). Tell end users about changes they'll see at the UI. Tell component writers about changes they'll see at the client- and server-side APIs. Try to generate some excitement; save the boring details for the manual. The description should be complete sentences, with trailing punctuation. Stick to the default font and size.

If a small image sheds light, place it below the description, in a separate paragraph. Regular screen snapshots should be done on Windows XP. Crop out any extraneous stuff to focus the reader's attention on your new feature. The image should be no more than 550 pixels wide and in PNG format (as opposed to GIF, TIF, BMP, or JPG). Use PNG-8 if your image doesn't have a lot of color, or PNG-24 if the screen shot uses enough color to warrant additional color depth.

Microsoft Paint actually saves to PNG on Windows XP and can easily be used to crop and save screenshots:

  • Arrange the windows for the shot
  • Use the Print Screen key (or Alt+Print Screen) to capture the screen
  • Open Paint (under All Programs > Accessories)
  • Ctrl+V to paste
  • Select the area you want to keep
  • Ctrl+C to copy it
  • Ctrl+N to create a new canvas (ok to discard old one)
  • Ctrl+V to paste selected portion
  • Save As PNG

Name the file is a way that is appropriate and specific to the item (e.g., key-bindings.png, rather than something generic like image.png). Use all lowercase letters in the image file name, including the ".png" file extension. As a separator, use hyphen "-" rather than underscore "_".

Put all the images in a sibling directory named "images". This gives HTML like <img src="images/foo.png" alt="The Foo View" />. Include a suitable alt property (which is mandatory in XHTML 1.0). Do not embed the width and height of the image.

The images should be left justified (as opposed to centered).

Use the W3C XHTML Markup Validation Service to check your document's markup before submitting.
Single Sourcing The Model Editor now comes in a way and with integration in the different flavors of the Eclipse Platform:
  • Eclipse 3.6 SDK:
  • Eclipse 4.0 SDK:
  • "Native" e4-Application:
Using the same code base. The only difference is how the Component integrations into the different Platforms.
Support for Icon-URIs Support for selection constructing icons URIs has been added
Support for Extended Applications The editor bundle comes now with an extension point which allows it to deal with Extended Application models
CSS-Themes A new system for defining, contributing to and switching between themes has been added and is in use in all Demos and the 4.0 SDK
SimpleIDE Demo Work on another demo application has been started which shows how to write a very simple IDE like Application using pure e4-UI-Technologies

For more information take a look at: e4 wiki page