Add News section for project updates and community content

[ipbabble]

Overview

Add a lightweight News section (not "Blog") to share project updates, technical content, and community stories. This should only be added when we have sufficient content ready to maintain it.

Rationale

• "News" sounds less demanding than "Blog" (lower commitment)
• Launch only when we have 5+ posts ready to publish
• Better to have no blog than an empty/abandoned one
• Avoid "dead blog" appearance that makes project look inactive

Implementation

Navigation Placement

Add to main menu after Reference, before GitHub:

menus:
  main:
    - name: News
      url: /news/
      weight: 45  # After Reference, before GitHub

Content Structure

Create content/news/ directory with:

• _index.md - News section landing page
• Individual posts as markdown files with dates

Homepage Integration

Feature latest news post on homepage:

• Place after "Featured Templates" section, before CTA
• Show title, date, summary, and "Read more" link
• Only show if news posts exist

Prerequisites Before Launch

Do not add this section until ALL of the following are ready:

• Have 5+ posts drafted and ready to publish
• Content calendar planned for 6 months ahead
• Process for community contributions established
• GitHub Discussions active as source of content
• Team commitment to 1-2 posts per month minimum

Launch Content (Minimum 3 Posts)

Initial posts to publish on launch:

1. "Introducing AI Templates" - Project overview and mission
2. "MCP Server Template: Getting Started" - Technical deep-dive
3. "Roadmap: What's Coming in 2026" - Future vision

Content Types (Target Mix)

• Announcements (20%): New templates, major features, partnerships
• Technical Content (40%): Architecture deep-dives, best practices, tutorials
• Community (30%): Case studies, user spotlights, contribution stories
• Thought Leadership (10%): AI development trends, MCP ecosystem insights

Publishing Cadence

• Target: 1-2 posts per month minimum
• Can be lower initially, but avoid gaps longer than 2 months
• Irregular posting is worse than no blog at all

Future Enhancements

Once established, consider adding:

• RSS feed for news posts
• Tags/categories for filtering
• Author profiles for guest posts
• Newsletter integration

Examples from Similar Projects

• Hugo (gohugo.io): Uses "News" section for release announcements
• Kubernetes (kubernetes.io): Active blog with community stories (~2-4 posts/month)
• LangChain (docs.langchain.com): Added blog after gaining traction

Success Criteria

This feature is successful when:

• News section has regular updates (no gaps > 2 months)
• Community members contribute guest posts
• Posts generate discussion in GitHub
• Users reference posts when asking questions

Target Release

v1.2+ (not v1.0 or v1.1)

---

Note: This is tracked in CHANGELOG.md under "Future Releases → News/Blog Section (v1.2+)"

[ipbabble]

Consider links to blog articles posted elsewhere. E.g. developer blogs.