improve description of use cases and getting started guides (#304)

motivation: address feedback from core-team

changes:
* improve description of landing page use cases
* improve description of getting started guides
* add "cross platform command-line tool" as a landing page use case, link to getting started guides (TODO: come up with better)

Co-authored-by: Alexander Sandberg <[email protected]>

Author: tomerd

assets/stylesheets/pages/_getting-started.scss

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   padding-left: 0;
   display: grid;
   gap: 1rem;
-  
+
   .resource {
     border: 1px solid var(--color-fill-tertiary);
     padding: 1rem;
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
         grid-column-end: 3;
       }
     }
-    
+
     h3 {
       padding-top: 0;
     }
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
       margin-bottom: 1rem;
     }
   }
-  
+
   @media (min-width: $grid-breakpoint) {
     grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
   }
@@ -52,18 +52,18 @@
     border-radius: 4px;
     display: flex;
     flex-direction: column;
-    
+
     h3 {
       line-height: 1.4;
       font-size: 1.4rem;
     }
-    
+
     p {
       flex-grow: 1;
       color: var(--color-secondary-label);
     }
   }
-  
+
   @media (min-width: 1000px) {
     grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
   }
@@ -76,13 +76,13 @@ a.cta-secondary {
   display: block;
   padding: .5rem 0;
   text-align: center;
-  
+
   &:hover {
     background-color: var(--color-text);
     color: var(--color-fill);
     text-decoration: none;
   }
-  
+
   &.external:after {
     content: " ↗"
   }

assets/stylesheets/pages/_landing.scss

@@ -143,6 +143,10 @@
   @media (min-width: 1000px) {
     grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
   }
+  
+  li:nth-child(2n-1):nth-last-of-type(1) {
+    grid-column: span 2;
+  }
 }
 
 .getting-involved,

getting-started/_use-cases.md

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Looking for a language reference? [The Swift Programming Language (TSPL)](https:
   <li class="use-case">
     <h3>Command-line Tool</h3>
     <p class="description">
-      Build a cross-platform command-line tool.
+      Learn how to create cross-platform command-line tool such as short-lived interactive programs, or long-lived daemon that runs in the background.
     </p>
 
     <a href="/getting-started/cli-swiftpm" class="cta-secondary">Start tutorial</a>
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Looking for a language reference? [The Swift Programming Language (TSPL)](https:
   <li class="use-case">
     <h3>Library</h3>
     <p class="description">
-      Build a cross-platform library.
+      Learn how to create cross-platform library for sharing reusable code, or modularize large code-base.
     </p>
 
     <a href="/getting-started/library-swiftpm" class="cta-secondary">Start tutorial</a>
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ Looking for a language reference? [The Swift Programming Language (TSPL)](https:
   <li class="use-case">
     <h3>Web Service</h3>
     <p class="description">
-      Use a web framework to build a web service.
-      Requires macOS or Linux.
+      Learn how to create a web-service using a web framework.
+      <br><br>
+      This guide requires macOS or Linux.
     </p>
 
     <a href="/getting-started/vapor-web-server" class="cta-secondary">Start tutorial</a>
@@ -37,8 +38,9 @@ Looking for a language reference? [The Swift Programming Language (TSPL)](https:
   <li class="use-case">
     <h3>iOS and macOS Application</h3>
     <p class="description">
-      Use Swift and SwiftUI to build an app that works on iOS and macOS.
-      Requires macOS 12 and Xcode 14.
+      Learn how to create an iOS or macOS application using SwiftUI.
+      <br><br>
+      This guide requires macOS and Xcode.
     </p>
 
     <a href="/getting-started/swiftui" class="cta-secondary">Start tutorial</a>

index.md

@@ -72,15 +72,29 @@ Swift is a general-purpose programming language built using a modern approach to
   <li>
     <h3>Apple platforms</h3>
     <p>
-      Swift is a powerful and intuitive programming language on macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS and beyond. Swift code is safe by design, yet also produces software that is optimized to run lightning-fast.
+      Swift is a powerful and intuitive programming language optimized when running on iOS, macOS, and other Apple platforms.
+      <br><br>
+      Apple offers a wide variety of frameworks and APIs that make applications developed for these platforms unique and fun.
+    </p>  
+    <a href="https://developer.apple.com/swift/resources/" class="cta-secondary">Learn more</a>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <h3>Cross-platform Command-line</h3>
+    <p>
+      Writing Swift is interactive and fun, the syntax is concise yet expressive.
+      Swift code is safe by design and produces software that runs lightning-fast.
+      <br><br>
+      SwiftArgumentParser and Swift's growing package ecosystem make developing cross-platform command-line tools a breeze.
     </p>
 
-    <a href="https://developer.apple.com/swift/resources/" class="cta-secondary">Learn more</a>
+    <a href="/getting-started/cli-swiftpm" class="cta-secondary">Learn more</a>
   </li>
   <li>
-    <h3>Server</h3>
+    <h3>Server and Networking</h3>
     <p>
-      Ever dreamed of using the same programming language on both your mobile applications and their server back-ends? Swift's small footprint, quick startup time, and deterministic performance make it specifically suitable for Server applications.
+      Swift's small memory footprint, quick startup time, and deterministic performance make it a great choice for server and other networked applications.
+      <br><br>
+      SwiftNIO and Swift's dynamic server ecosystem bring joy to developing networked applications.
     </p>
 
     <a href="/server" class="cta-secondary">Learn more</a>