Re: Describing Postgres as "object-relational" on the home page

On 12/31/23 12:40 PM, Karl O. Pinc wrote:
> On Sun, 31 Dec 2023 10:42:11 -0500
> "Jonathan S. Katz" <jkatz(at)postgresql(dot)org> wrote:
>
>> I think it's a good idea to talk about the types of
>> functionality/workloads PostgreSQL can support, whether in core or
>> extensions (geospatial, time series, vector/AI/pick-the-buzzword,
>> distributed, etc.), and perhaps the starting point is adding that
>> language that suggests that. We can then link to the wiki, perhaps
>> make a "List of Extensions" page that's similar to "List of
>> Drivers"[4] (which [4] is now linked to from the docs) that
>> categorizes them. [5] has a nice starting point on the aggregation of
>> what's out there.
>
>> [5] https://gist.github.com/joelonsql/e5aa27f8cc9bd22b8999b7de8aee9d47
>
> There's also https://pgxn.org, the PostgreSQL Extension Network.
> It's interface, a list of tags with font sizes that correspond to
> frequency of occurrence, gives me an idea.
>
> Give up. Add the sentence "PostgreSQL supports many popular buzzwords,
> which make it more than a relational database."
> and link "buzzwords" to a page of buzzwords. Since "buzzword"
> is so generic, "Geospatial" can appear next to "ACID" next to "SQL"
> without concern. Each buzzword could link to a google search of
> "PostgreSQL" + "<buzzword>". To get fancy, let the user choose the
> search engine. Or really give up and link to a buzzword page on
> the pg wiki.

I don't really follow what you're suggesting here. I think a bunch of
the language you've suggested makes sense for the homepage (and it'll
have to be modified in other places); this just needs some iterating and
thinking through given the prominence of the language.

Given it is the homepage -- and at the very top -- we do need to be
careful about what we say/link to, because as I said before, it becomes
a quasi-official endorsement. Keeping the generic text does allow us to
say that PostgreSQL can handle N different types of workloads, and I
think it's fine for us to link to other resources.

(Also, having been through many rounds of discussions around external
linking, I do think it's prudent we have guidelines for how any external
linking is included).

To move this along, here is a patch with suggested changes on just the
homepage -- as mentioned, we'll likely need to deploy this wider, but I
want us to feel comfortable with the language before building a full
fledged patch. I took the suggestion of using two sentences in the first
paragraph. I don't think the second paragraph is quite there yet, but
this should give something to discuss.

To make it easier to comment, here are the sentences below:

==quote==
PostgreSQL is a powerful, extensible, open source relational database
with over 35 years of active development. PostgreSQL has earned a strong
reputation for reliability, feature robustness, and performance.

PostgreSQL can be used for a wide variety of use-cases, including
transactional and analytical workloads. PostgreSQL extensions add more
functionality to PostgreSQL, which are used to support geospatial, time
series, AI and vector queries, full-text search, distributed systems,
and many more workloads.
==quote==

Thanks,

Jonathan