Remove reference to 'simple' structured answers
Closed this issue · 6 comments
There's some doc sections that make reference to the 'simple' structured answers:
Do we even support these still? AFAICT we are updating all previously 'simple' structured answers to use the new templates - which are more versatile and much more maintainable.
I would vote on removing reference to 'simple' structured answers - and focus on getting people using the full templates so that they know what's available, and have experience working with them which they can use when making more complex Instant Answers.
Maybe there is still a place for them - but I find it isn't much effort to just use a full template rather than the simplified version - and they are also a nightmare with tests!
What do you guys think? Encourage the use? Discourage the use? Wipe them completely?
/cc @talsraviv @moollaza @duckduckgo/community-leaders
Do we even support these still? AFAICT we are updating all previously 'simple' structured answers to use the new templates - which are more versatile and much more maintainable.
Yes these are still technically supported, they use different, older Handlebars templates though which I'd like to avoid.
I would vote on removing reference to 'simple' structured answers - and focus on getting people using the full templates so that they know what's available, and have experience working with them which they can use when making more complex Instant Answers.
I think ultimately this is where we want to end up -- a unified way of creating a templated IA. The "simple structured_answer" was a half-way step before we had full template support.
What do you guys think? Encourage the use? Discourage the use? Wipe them completely?
I'd like to see us migrate everything to full templates and then we can remove the simple structured_answer which should simplify the docs a bit.
@zachthompson what are your thoughts on all this?
I still like the idea of a simplified approach to a full templated answer, but I don't like how different the two current approaches are, specifically the language of title and subtitle (used elsewhere) vs result, input, operation (only in Goodies).
Perhaps if you only specify title and subtitle we can infer this is a Goodie using the text template?
@moollaza Simplifying the docs would definitely be a big bonus! Having exceptions ("if your instant answer only...") around the place might make it harder to understand!
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by your last point? I agree there isn't much difference between the 'simple' structured answers and templates (both use a structured answer) - which may lead to confusion down the line when introduced to 'full' templates, but why do we need to determine whether or not they are Goodies? Isn't that the job of the metadata on duck.co?
I appreciate that last bit may have been aimed at @zachthompson, but I'm curious! 😉
Oooh.... Do you mean only specifying the title and subtitle _without_ the template type? As a form of 'simplifying' the answer?
If we can move away from autotemplating entirely, that would be ideal.
Oooh.... Do you mean only specifying the title and subtitle without the template type? As a form of 'simplifying' the answer?
Yup, in the Perl and then we can infer we're dealing with a Goodie, and it should use the Text template. So at least the language is consistent and for all the Goodies that only have a title + subtitle you don't need to write out as much code.
If we can move away from autotemplating entirely, that would be ideal.
Thanks @zachthompson! It sounds like we have our answer @GuiltyDolphin. Let's remove autotemplates (simplified structured_answer) from the Docs and get the lingering Goodies converted
@moollaza Sweet. Not heard it referred to as 'autotemplating' before though!