You have probably already noticed that BDN has changed to a new look and feel. Let me give you an overview of the changes on BDN to ensure that you are able to get the most benefit out of these changes.
Navigation across Borland web sites, BDN repositories, and into repository hierarchies is provided as part of the new look of BDN.
Across web sites
At the top of the browser page, you can quickly jump to the primary Borland web sites from any of the other web sites. In the image below, you can see that the Borland Developer Network tab is highlighted. It will be highlighted for any BDN web page.
Figure 1Top level navigation tabs
The Login text is also a link to the account menu. When you do not have your BDN cookie set, the text will say "Login" rather than welcoming you by name.
Across BDN communities
Below the top navigation level is the toolbar and BDN navigation menu.
Note: In the screen shot shown below, I am also logged in so BDN greets me by name.
Figure 2 BDN navigation menu and toolbar
Toolbar
The toolbar provides a link to manage your BDN account called My Account. If you are not currently logged in, you can login from that link as well. The Help link provides the help text for BDN. You can use the Search box to quickly locate content on the borland.com domain. From the search results page, you can expand your search beyond borland.com.
Navigation Menu
The navigation menu normally uses JavaScript to display its drop-down choices, and only work correctly in Internet Explorer with JavaScript enabled. For browsers that handle the CSS settings better, like Firefox (and probably Opera and Safari), the menu will still work if JavaScript is disabled. The selections available on the Navigation menu are not context sensitive. When you select an item from the BDN navigation menu, you will land on the "home" page for that content area. Usually, this is known as the BDN "community".
Application Lifecycle
ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) Product-specific entries are listed under this menu item.
IDE
Language-related content is listed under the IDE menu.
Application Middleware
Borland's database and application server product content is listed under this menu.
More Resources
This menu displays broad categories of content, and links to additional services offered under the BDN umbrella.
Across BDN repositories and content types
There are many kinds of content and much valuable information stored in the various BDN repositories. This implementation of BDN brings the client interfaces closer together and eases the navigation from one area to another. We are also working behind the screen to merge those repositories closer together on the back-end as well as the front end.
Figure 3 BDN repositories and content types
When you are at a given level of the BDN knowledge base, the tabs displayed in the list view will filter the content list to the type of content you select.
Articles
Articles are the content that is on the main BDN knowledge base repository. There are different types of articles as well, and you can filter the list you are viewing by selecting Most Recent, FAQs, White Papers, and so on whenever that tab (shown above) is visible.
TV & Radio
TV and Radio includes the audio interviews and playback available on BDN, as well as videos and flash animations provided on BDN.
Examples
The Examples tab displays content from CodeCentral, the community repository.
Events
The Events tab displays content from EventCentral, the global community calendar.
Books
The Books tab displays book reviews.
Bugs & Requests
This tab displays bug reports and feature requests from QualityCentral.
Blogs
This tab displays weblog content listings from Borland employees.
Through the knowledge base hierarchy
The organizational structure of information on BDN, or its taxonomy, varies based on the repository being navigated. However, we have made the navigation interface the same for each repository hosted on BDN. The image below shows a sample of the BDN article taxonomy for the Delphi community, Programming neighborhood, and OO Design street.
Figure 4 Sample Delphi taxonomy
All BDN taxonomies now use this navigation interface, which appears on the left side of the screen once you select a community. Some repositories, like QualityCentral, have a much more extensive taxonomy than others, but we have attempted to have cross-repository navigation support for at least the community level. Because of the different purposes of the various repositories, it will not always be possible to perfectly match up cross-repository navigation areas but wherever it makes sense, we have attempted to do so.
There are actions that can be performed on different pages on BDN. These actions vary depending on the page you are on, but should appear in the upper right portion of the browser window, directly below the navigation menu. See the image below for an example from the new EventCentral site:
Figure 5 EventCentral options and actions
Most pages have a Print action. Other options, like creating new entries, deleting submissions and so on, will also appear in this area.
Beyond the obvious cosmetic changes, the main difference beyond easier navigation to Borlands primary web sites for this new version of BDN is tighter integration to the various BDN systems.
Articles
The main content for BDN is still the article repository. When you go to http://bdn.borland.com you are on the main BDN web site and the primary knowledge base. The BDN article repository currently has a three level hierarchy, called communities, neighborhoods, and streets. Some of the Delphi article taxonomy is shown above.
Blogs
The Borland employee personal weblogs (blog) areas are cross-referenced at the community level, so you can go to Borland blog entries that pertain to the specific Borland products you use. Borland employees use their own blog skins so they might differ from the Borland default appearance, but the main blog pages, such as community areas and the blog home page now appear similar to the global look and feel.
For an overview of the weblog server and changes to it, go to http://blogs.borland.com/About.aspx.
Chat
The Chatjet interface for the Borland chat rooms has many new enhancements beyond the new cosmetics for the site. There are multiple chat rooms available for the various communities on BDN. The interface also informs you of activity in each of the chat rooms in which you are participating.
CodeCentral
CodeCentral is the BDN user repository for code examples, binaries, and so on. The Examples tab leads to CodeCentral.
We used the changes required for this new look and feel as an opportunity to migrate the functionality of the Delphi CGI version of CodeCentral to a Delphi ASP.NET system, and also provide additional features and better performance. Almost all features are available in the ASP.NET version now.
For an overview of changes to CodeCentral, and the latest update information, go to http://cc.borland.com/About.aspx.
EventCentral
EventCentral is the global Borland community calendar. Any BDN member can post announcements of events there to let all Borland customers know what is happening around the world, and when. The Events tab leads to EventCentral.
For an overview of EventCentral, and recent changes to it, go to http://ec.borland.com/docs/index.html.
QualityCentral
QualityCentral is the public issue tracking repository, web service, and clients provided free of charge by Borland to users of our products. The Bugs & Reports tab leads to QualityCentral.
QualityCentral already used a similar navigation system to the new navigation system, so not much has been changed for the web interface for the new look and feel. There have been many changes to the QualityCentral web interface over the last half a year, however. If you haven't looked at it recently, you should look at it again now.
Many of the web pages on BDN now include direct links to create bug reports or feature requests in QualityCentral for that specific BDN area. All pages on BDN should have these links available very soon. If you want to report a problem or suggest an improvement, please do take advantage of this new feature and post the request to QualityCentral where we can keep track of it. Much of the information you would need to enter into a bug report or feature request will be inserted for you automatically if you take advantage of this new direct-reporting feature.
Thank you for visiting BDN, and we hope you enjoy our improvements.
