[RFC][Sub] UI/UX Refactoring for Portal & Navigation (Follow-up #97)

[justbin-coder]

1. Motivation

The current portal's "heterogeneous stacking" of 27+ community projects has become a significant barrier to developer efficiency. A flat, unorganized list without clear task-based boundaries creates several critical issues:

• Low Scannability: Developers cannot quickly distinguish between infrastructure, training, and inference tools, leading to high cognitive overhead.
• Discovery Friction: The lack of a visual hierarchy inhibits a "5-second discovery path" for users seeking specific ecosystem support.
• Scalability Bottlenecks: Continued stacking without a structural redesign will further degrade the entry-point experience as the ecosystem grows in 2026.

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2. Design Objectives

Our goal is to transform the portal from a static list into a Scenario-Driven Ecosystem Hub, synchronized across the entire documentation site.

2.1 Scenario-Based Information Architecture (IA)

Restructure all projects into four logical tiers based on the developer's workflow:

1. AI Infrastructure: Core frameworks and low-level libraries (e.g., PyTorch, Transformers, DeepSpeed).
2. Training & Fine-tuning: LLM/VLA training and Reinforcement Learning frameworks (e.g., verl, VeOmni, LLaMA-Factory).
3. Inference & Serving: High-performance deployment and serving engines (e.g., sglang, LMDeploy, llama.cpp).
4. Apps & Evaluation: Multi-modal tools, CV/Audio libraries, and benchmarking suites (e.g., Diffusers, OpenCompass).

2.2 Global TOC Persistence

Mirror the scenario-based hierarchy in the Sphinx sidebar (Global TOC). This ensures the "Panoramic View" remains consistent, preventing the navigation bar from reverting to a flat list when a user navigates into sub-project pages.

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3. Implementation Plan

The transition will be executed in three high-velocity phases:

Phase 1: Structural Refactoring

• Inject custom CSS/styles for the new grid system.
• Refactor index.rst using multiple :caption:-enabled toctree directives to establish the new IA in the sidebar.

Phase 2: Full Ecosystem Mapping

• Map all 27+ projects into the new grid system.
• Ensure every card contains the "Three Essentials" and accurate project descriptions.

Phase 3: Persistence & Verification

• Validate the Global TOC consistency across all sub-pages.
• Optimize mobile responsiveness and clean up any build warnings related to the index restructuring.

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4. Visual Prototype (Demo)

A Proof-of-Concept (PoC) has been developed to demonstrate the proposed "Scenario-Based" experience.

[zheliuyu]

@justbin-coder Awesome work! It looks really cool. By the way, have you considered establishing some guidelines for displaying the logo images? The current ones appear misaligned and a bit messy.