GitLab 9.3 release post

Review Apps link: https://release-9-3.about.gitlab.com/2017/06/22/gitlab-9-3-released/

Release Post 🎉

• Blog handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/blog/
• Release post handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/blog/release-posts/

General Contributions

General contributions from the team.

Due date: 06/14 (6th working day before the 22nd)

• Label MR: blog post release
• Add milestone
• Intro
• MVP
• Add cover image image_title (compressed)
• Upgrade barometer
• Top features
• Primary features
• Secondary features (improvements)
• Performance improvements
• Omnibus improvements
• Deprecations
• Documentation links
• Authorship (author's data)

Review

Content review (PMs)

Due date: 06/19 (2nd working day before the 22nd)

• Label MR: blog post release review-in-progress
• General review (PM)
  • Check Features' names
  • Check Features' availability (CE, EES, EEP)
  • Check Documentation links
  • Update data/promo.yml
  • Check all images' size - compress whenever > 300KB
  • Meaningful links (SEO)
  • Check links to product/feature webpages
• Copyedit (Sean P, Rebecca, or Marcia)
  • Title
  • Description
  • Grammar, spelling, clearness (body)
• Final review (Job)

Structural Check

Due date: 06/19 (2nd working day before the 22nd)

• Label MR: blog post release review-structure
• Check frontmatter (entries, syntax)
• Check image_title and twitter_image
• Check image shadow {:.shadow}
• Check images' ALT text
• Videos/iframes wrapped in <figure> tags (responsiveness)
• Add/check <!-- more --> separator
• Add/check cover img reference (at the end of the post)
• Columns (content balance between the columns)
• Badges consistency (applied to all headings)
• Remove any remaining instructions
• Remove HTML comments
• Run deadlink checker
• Update release template with any changes (if necessary)

data/release_posts/2017_06_22_gitlab_9_3_released.yml

@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ features:
   top:
     - name: Conversational Development Index
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
-      documentation_link: ''
-      documentation_text: "Learn more"
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/admin_area/monitoring/convdev.html'
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about the Conversational Development Index"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/conversational_development_index.png'
       description: |
         For self-hosted users, you can now see the conversational development index
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ features:
   primary:
     - name: Multi-Project Pipelines Graph
       available_in: [eep]
-      documentation_link: ''
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines.html#multi-project-pipelines-graph'
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about the multi-project pipelines graph"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/multi-project_pipelines.png'
       description: |
         Larger projects, especially those adopting a micro-services
@@ -55,10 +55,10 @@ features:
         With the first iteration of Multi-Project Pipelines, GitLab 9.3 will show links for upstream and downstream projects directly in the pipeline graph, so developers can check the overall status of the entire chain in one single view.
-    - name: Code Climate results in the MR widget area
+    - name: Code Climate results in the merge request widget area
       available_in: [ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/code_quality_diff.html'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about exposing Code Climate results in your merge requests"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/code_climate.png'
       description: |
         When submitting new code to a CI pipeline, you can analyze the quality using the Code Climate Docker image that reports if there are possible improvements or known issues in your source code.
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ features:
     - name: Protected Variables for enhanced pipelines security
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/variables/#protected-secret-variables'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about protected secret variables"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/protected_variables.png'
       description: |
         Secret variables are very useful if you want to avoid external people to access private information for your project, but users that are able to modify the
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ features:
     - name: Centralized Audit Log & Extended user audit actions
       available_in: [eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/audit_events.html#audit-log-admin-only'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about audit log"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/audit_log.png'
       description: |
         Many companies have the need for audit and compliance across the
@@ -127,7 +127,6 @@ features:
     - name: Settings made simple
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: ''
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
       image_url: '/images/9_3/repository-settings.png'
       description: |
         Over time, the number of settings in GitLab has expanded as we've
@@ -146,7 +145,7 @@ features:
     - name: Confidential issues re-design
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/user/project/issues/confidential_issues.html'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more"
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about confidential issues"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/confidential_issues_re_design.png'
       description: |
         We tweaked the design of confidential issues in this release, making
@@ -157,7 +156,7 @@ features:
     - name: JIRA settings improvements
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/user/project/integrations/jira.html'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more"
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about JIRA integration"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/jira_settings_improvements.png'
       description: |
         For JIRA users, we improved the JIRA integration settings in this release,
@@ -170,7 +169,7 @@ features:
     - name: Snippet descriptions
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/user/snippets.html'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more"
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about snippets"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/snippet_descriptions.png'
       description: |
         Snippets now have descriptions, allowing you to collaborate similarly with
@@ -179,7 +178,7 @@ features:
     - name: Group label permissions
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/user/permissions.html'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more"
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about GitLab's permission model"
       image_url: ''
       description: |
         The Reporter, Developer, Master, and Owner roles can now create and edit
@@ -208,7 +207,6 @@ features:
     - name: Inline description inline edit
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: ''
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
       image_url: '/images/9_3/issue_description_inline_edit.png'
       description: |
         The issue description serves as the single source of truth when teams
@@ -221,7 +219,7 @@ features:
     - name: Bulk issue edit re-design
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/issues/index.html'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about issues in GitLab"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/bulk_issue_edit_re_design.png'
       description: |
         We've made bulk editing issues even simpler and more intuitive in
@@ -231,8 +229,8 @@ features:
     - name: Issue board usability improvements
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
-      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/user/project/issue_board.html'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more"
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/issue_board.html'
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about issue boards"
       image_url: 'issue_board_usability_improvements.png'
       description: |
         We recognize that teams use issue boards in a variety of ways. To make
@@ -244,7 +242,7 @@ features:
     - name: Search/filter bar improvements
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/user/search/'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more"
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about searching in GitLab"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/search_filter_bar_improvements.png'
       description: |
         We continue to make incremental improvements to the search/filter bar. You
@@ -254,7 +252,7 @@ features:
     - name: Internationalization of Project Home & Repository File page
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/development/i18n_guide.html'
-      documentation_text: "Contribution Guidelines "
+      documentation_text: "Learn how to contribute translating GitLab "
       image_url: '/images/9_3/'
       description: |
         In GitLab 9.2 we started the process of [internationalization](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/4012)
@@ -271,7 +269,7 @@ features:
     - name: Improvements to subgroups
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/user/group/subgroups/'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about subgroups"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/subgroups.png'
       description: |
         In GitLab 9.0 we introduced sub groups, allowing for more flexibility
@@ -285,22 +283,27 @@ features:
         <https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/30343>
-    - name: New scope for PAT to pull docker images from Container Registry
+    - name: New scope for personal access tokens to pull Docker images from Container Registry
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
-      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/profile/personal_access_tokens.html#limiting-scopes-of-a-personal-access-token'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/profile/personal_access_tokens.html'
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about personal access tokens"
       image_url: '/images/9_3/pat_registry.png'
       description: |
-        When you deploy your docker-based project, you need to pull your images every time the deployment enviroment needs to start them.
-        Since the integrated GitLab Container Registry is the natural choice to store your containers, in GitLab 9.3 you can use it to distribute them too!
-        By creating a Personal Access Token with the brand new `read_registry` scope, you've a persistent deploy token that could be used by external services,
-        like Kubernetes, to access your images every time it's needed, without giving your full credentials or using a dummy user for this task.
+        When you deploy your docker-based project, you need to pull your image
+        every time the deployment environment needs to start them. Since the
+        integrated [GitLab Container Registry](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/container_registry.html)
+        is the natural choice to store your containers, in GitLab 9.3 you can
+        use it to distribute them too!
+        By creating a personal access token with the brand new `read_registry`
+        scope, you have a persistent deploy token that could be used by external
+        services, like Kubernetes, to access your images every time it's needed,
+        without giving your full credentials or using a dummy user for this task.
     - name: Object Storage for CI Artifacts
       available_in: [eep]
-      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/job_artifacts.html#storing-job-artifacts'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/job_artifacts.html#using-object-store'
+      documentation_text: "Learn more about using an object storage for CI artifacts"
       image_url:
       description: |
         As companies continue to embrace CI/CD across the organization, their
@@ -310,7 +313,6 @@ features:
     - name: Enhanced view for files in repo
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: ''
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
       image_url: '/images/9_3/enhanced_files_view.png'
       description: |
         When viewing files in your repository, some extra information is now automatically extracted and reported in the same page.
@@ -320,7 +322,7 @@ features:
     - name: API support for Pipeline Schedules
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/api/pipeline_schedules.html'
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
+      documentation_text: "Learn how to use the pipeline schedules API"
       image_url:
       description: |
         In GitLab 9.2 we released Pipeline Schedules that can be configured and managed using the UI. Today with GitLab 9.3 we're also releasing calls
@@ -329,7 +331,6 @@ features:
     - name: Upcoming nginx upgrade
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: ''
-      documentation_text: "Learn more "
       image_url:
       description: |
         As part of the upcoming GitLab 9.4 release, we will be upgrading the version of nginx included in our Omnibus packages to the new stable release, 1.12. Version 1.12 includes a number of improvements over the previous stable release, including the ability to [filter the log output](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/merge_requests/1585). This will be a transparent upgrade for users, however if you have added [nginx your own customizations](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/doc/settings/nginx.md#inserting-custom-nginx-settings-into-the-gitlab-server-block) to the configuration, please ensure they continue to work with version 1.12.
@@ -338,15 +339,15 @@ features:
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: ''
       documentation_text: "Learn more "
-      image_url: 
+      image_url:
       description: |
-        GitLab is at the heart of an organization's software engineering worfklow, so ensuring it is performing at it's best is important. With the 9.3 release, we have made it possible to get a deeper look inside GitLab by offering a number of additional metrics for monitoring. These include x, y, z, and we will continue to add additional metrics in subsequent releases. 
+        GitLab is at the heart of an organization's software engineering worfklow, so ensuring it is performing at it's best is important. With the 9.3 release, we have made it possible to get a deeper look inside GitLab by offering a number of additional metrics for monitoring. These include x, y, z, and we will continue to add additional metrics in subsequent releases.
     - name: Performance impact of merge request now quantified
       available_in: [ce, ees, eep]
       documentation_link: ''
       documentation_text: "Learn more "
-      image_url: 
+      image_url:
       description: |
         With GitLab 9.2, we added the ability to see the memory impact of a merge request, by adding a sparkline to the MR flow. As part of GitLab 9.3, we are taking this further and can now quantify the change in memory usage before and after the merge. It is now easier than ever for developers to be cognizant of the impact they are having on overall service performance, driving alignment across teams as delighting customers is everyone's job.