Markdown format for lists is not manageable or machine readable

[webprofusion-chrisc]

Currently, if we want to add a column or tag certain items in the list (#13 #14) or reformat the list this requires reformatting the whole list. This is also not machine readable.

Proposal: convert lists to a json collection and transform them via a template to compile the final readme.

[webprofusion-chrisc]

Options:

• keep using readme.md because it's easy to edit (if there are no conflicts or no need to rearrange the lists).
• build readme.md from a template, with a json data source (a node build script) : keeps discoverability but people will likely still try to submit PRs against the generated readme.md
• build docs/index.html from a template with a json data source (a node build scripts): reduces discoverability as readme.md would no longer be the list and instead have a link to the page but provides more flexibility for generated output (multi page etc)

[DropSnorz]

A workaround could be to use an html table in the markdown file. This is not a pure markdown solution, but i think it's one of the most maintainable. We keep file edits simple and the raw file is still readable. 🙂

[webprofusion-chrisc]

Of interest as an example, see how VCV Rack have created their plugin library as json linking to different GitHub repos:

https://github.com/VCVRack/library

Although I can easily make this a database I initially felt that was overkill until people started contributing links (maybe a UI would be easier?).