Substantially rewrite a lot of pages

Rework our front page to be a lot more useful, as well as links to
getting involved and starting new projects.

Rewrite our mission statement to be more consistent with what we've
actually interpreted it as for the last ten years. This probably
requires further tweaking.

Make a first cut at improving the specs page, though this needs a lot
more work.

Mostly rewrite infrastructure-related pages to semi-accurately reflect
the current state of things.

LightDM has fully moved to GitHub now, so have their page just be a
redirect rather than an orphan.

1 files changed, 15 insertions, 12 deletions

diff --git a/Specifications.mdwn b/Specifications.mdwn
index 4e166ed2..49956255 100644
--- a/Specifications.mdwn
+++ b/Specifications.mdwn
@@ -1,25 +1,32 @@
 # Interoperability specifications
 
-freedesktop.org is not an official standards body. These specifications describe protocols and interfaces to help different desktops and applications work well together.
+freedesktop.org produces specifications for interoperability, but we are not an official standards body. There is no requirement for projects to implement all of these specifications, nor certification.
 
-### Specifications that have pretty good de facto adoption/agreement:
+Below are some of the specifications we have produced, many under the banner of 'XDG', which stands for the _Cross-Desktop Group_.
 
+Some of these specifications are in (very) active use and have a large body of interested developers. Many of them are seen to be stable, in no need of further development, and may not have active devlopment. Some of them are not used or widely implemented.
+
+If you would like to propose a new specification, or a change to an existing specification, please file an issue on the spec under the [[GitLab XDG project|https:///gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg]], or discuss it on the [[xdg@ mailing list|https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg]].
+
+**Please note that some of the links and information on this page is quite outdated. We are in the process of updating it and making sure it is accurate. Please consult the mailing list or GitLab if you are in doubt about anything.**
+
+### Specifications that are in wide use:
 
 *  [[Autostart|Specifications/autostart-spec]]: how applications can be started automatically after the user has logged in, and how removable media can request a specific application to be executed or a specific file on the media to be opened after the media has been mounted.
-*  [[Desktop base directories|Specifications/basedir-spec]]: how desktops should locate files, such as config files or application data files.
-*  [[Desktop entries|Specifications/desktop-entry-spec]]: files describing information about an application such as the name, icon, and description. These files are used for application launchers and for creating menus of applications that can be launched.
-*  [[Desktop menus|Specifications/menu-spec]]: how menus are built up from desktop entries. 
+*  [[Desktop base directories (basedir)|Specifications/basedir-spec]]: how desktops should locate files, such as config files or application data files.
+*  [[Desktop entries (.desktop)|Specifications/desktop-entry-spec]]: files describing information about an application such as the name, icon, and description. These files are used for application launchers and for creating menus of applications that can be launched.
+*  [[Desktop menus (menu)|Specifications/menu-spec]]: how menus are built up from desktop entries. 
 *  [[File manager D-Bus interface|Specifications/file-manager-interface]]: a common way to interact with the desktop's file manager.
 *  [[File URIs|Specifications/file-uri-spec]]: how to create and interpret interpret `file://` URIs, as used for drag and drop and other desktop uses.
 *  [[Free media player specifications|Specifications/free-media-player-specs]]: standard ways to store and read metadata across players and media formats. 
 *  [[Icon themes|Specifications/icon-theme-spec]]: a common way to store icon themes.
 *  [[Media Player Remote Interfacing Specification (MPRIS)|Specifications/mpris-interfacing-specification]]: A D-Bus interface to control media players
-*  [[Shared MIME database|Specifications/shared-mime-info-spec]]: contains common MIME types, descriptions, and rules for determining the types of files. 
+*  [[Shared MIME database (shared-mime-info)|Specifications/shared-mime-info-spec]]: contains common MIME types, descriptions, and rules for determining the types of files. 
 *  [[Startup notifications|Specifications/startup-notification-spec]]: a mechanism to allow desktop environments to track application startup, to provide user feedback and other features. 
 *  [[Trash|Specifications/trash-spec]]: a common way in which all "Trash can" implementations should store, list, and undelete trashed files.
 *  [[XML Bookmark Exchange Language (XBEL)|http://pyxml.sourceforge.net/topics/xbel/]]: an internet "bookmarks" interchange format. 
 
-X-related specifications:
+## X11-specific specifications that are in wide use:
 
 *  [[DnD|http://www.newplanetsoftware.com/xdnd/]]: a drag-and-drop specification shared between [[GTK+|GTK+]] and [[Qt|Qt]]. A [[local copy|Specifications/XDND]] of the spec resides on the wiki, along with some [[proposed revisions|Specifications/XDNDRevision]].
 *  [[UTF8_STRING|http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/UTF8_STRING]]: selection format for interchange of UTF-8 data. 
@@ -51,10 +58,6 @@ X-related specifications:
 If you feel any of these specs should be moved among the "standard", "de facto", and "proposed" categories, please let us know on [[xdg-list@lists.freedesktop.org|mailto:xdg-list@lists.freedesktop.org]]. 
 
 
-### X protocol extensions:
-
-* See <http://www.x.org/releases/current/doc/index.html#protocol> for the latest X protocol extension specs.
-
 ### Specifications currently in the planning/requirements-gathering stages:
 
 *  [[Shared File Metadata Spec|Specifications/shared-filemetadata-spec]] (reading/writing/searching file based metadata) 
@@ -72,7 +75,7 @@ If you feel any of these specs should be moved among the "standard", "de facto",
 *  [[DBPC - DBus for process control|Specifications/DBPC]] is layer above DBUS which define a standard set of objects, interfaces and methods for use in process control. It will provide a common standard for industrial communication, especially between HMI, SCADA and field electronic equipement. 
 
 
-### Retracted or obsolete specifications
+### Retracted or obsolete specifications:
 
 *  The [[Desktop Color Scheme specification|Specifications/colorscheme-spec]] is a draft specification that defines names for colors to be used for rendering user interface elements.  It also provides an algorithm for generating a matching set of colors from a single base color (**The colorscheme spec has been pulled on request of its authors**). 
 *  The [[GHNS and DXS specs|http://ghns.freedesktop.org/spec/]] (dead link as of May 2018) describe a collaborative data exchange platform based on the HTTP protocol and web service interaction.