Re: [ReSpec]: new features in ReSpec 8.5

Thank you for your continued development of ReSpec 🎉

— Michiel

> On 16 Jan 2017, at 08:48, Marcos Caceres <marcos@marcosc.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi ReSpec users,
> 
> 🎄tl;dr, new features and bug fixes for you:
> 
>  🎁 Can now cite inline with data-cite=spec#frag.
>  🎁 Adding a section element with id='idl-index' will give you a
> summary of WebIDL in your document
>  🎁 Improved linking of method() names.
>  🎁 Improved JSON syntax highlighting.
>  🎁 Performance improvements.
>  🎁 preProcess, postProcess, afterEnd, support promises
>  🎁 Now using Babel (with async/await)
>  🎁 Fixed linking to empty string in enums
>  🎁 Better use of browser's developer console.
> 
> Complete change log:
> https://github.com/w3c/respec/blob/develop/CHANGELOG.md
> 
> ## `data-cite` support ⭐️
> 
> Small, but important! You can now do:
> 
> ```HTML
> <a data-cite="!spec#frag">some concept</a>.
> ```
> 
> And that automatically adds the "spec" to the Normative References
> section and links to the cited spec.
> 
> More info, examples:
> https://github.com/w3c/respec/wiki/data--cite
> 
> I plan on adding support for different citation "types" too - so you
> can more easily cite IDL from other specs.
> 
> ## WebIDL index
> If you have a section with the "idl-index", ReSpec will gather all the
> WebIDL in your document into a nice summary. It will keep all the
> links to the correct sections.
> 
> See example:
> https://github.com/w3c/respec/wiki/idl-index
> 
> ## Improved linking of method() names.
> You can now link to IDL method() names directly, so these work now:
> 
> ```HTML
>  <dfn>Interface.method()</a>
>  <a>Interface.method()</a>
>  <p data-link-for="Interface"><a>method()</a></p>
> ```
> 
> ## preProcess, postProcess, afterEnd, now support promises
> If you return a promise from any of the above, ReSpec will now wait
> for them to settle before it continues.
> 
> We still don't encourage the use of those three properties. But just in case...
> 
> ## Performance improvements 🔥🔥🔥
> ReSpec now caches references in IndexedDB. This leads to significant
> performance improvements if you work off a local server (or even if
> you view specs on Github). The references are updated every 24 hours
> (or when spec refs sends a 200 OK - if you force reload).
> 
> ## Misc/Developers
> Better JSON syntax highlighting is now included.
> Now using Babel (with async/await) - ES6+ sources are in the "src/"
> directory and are transpired to "js/"
> ReSpec now links to empty string in enums
> 
> Any problems, please let us know:
> https://github.com/w3c/respec/issues
> 
> ## Better use of developer console
> Browsers provide powerful developer tools... we should leverage those more.
> 
> We are starting to output erroneous elements to the error console,
> making it easier to track down issues in your spec. I hope to improve
> on that in the future, by providing better error reporting and
> clickable errors/error highlighting in the spec itself in the future.
> At least, this helps a bit more track down bad tags that are causing
> issues.
> 
> ## What's next 🔜
> Cross references: hoping to leverage data-cite + the IDB
> infrastructure to do powerful xrefs in the browser. However, it will
> require getting SpecRef to talk to Shepherd.
> 
> Improve WebIDL support and linking (e.g., constructors).
> 
> Continue to "unjQuery" ReSpec. I'm hopeful we can be jQuery free by
> end of 2017. Will initially move to jQuery slim.
> 
> Continue to migrate to ES6 modules and other ES6 features (and allow
> Babel to transpile). Makes code much more maintainable.
> 
> Kind regards,
> Marcos
>