Add announcements; update for Cinema:DS; start work on rev to installation instructions

Author: briantoby

MDhelp/docs/sequential.md

@@ -54,8 +54,10 @@ For a sequential Rietveld refinement, set the PWDR histograms to be used in the
     * **Edit equation** - to edit an equation.
     * **Fit to equation(s)** - do the fitting of the parametric equations to the data.
 * Menu '**Seq export**' –
-    * **Project as** - only choice is as a full cif file.
-    * **Phase as** - either a "quick" cif or a CSV file
+    * **Project as** - choices are 
+      1. a CIF file that contains each sequential result as a separate block (with one phase) or multiple blocks, if multi-phase.
+      2. The output files used by the [Cinema: Debye-Scherrer program](https://github.com/cinemascience/cinema_debye_scherrer?tab=readme-ov-file#cinemadebye-scherrer) from Los Alamos. This is a nice tool for visual display of parametric fits. [Install it](https://github.com/cinemascience/cinema_debye_scherrer?tab=readme-ov-file#installation) before using the export option. 
+    * **Phase as** - either a "quick" CIF or a CSV file
     * **Powder as** - either a powder pattern cif, a histogram CSV file or a reflection list CSV file.
     * **Save table as CSV** - same as Save all as CSV above.
 

webdocs/index.rst

@@ -11,15 +11,10 @@ GSAS-II Home Page
 
 .. tip::
 
-   As of April 22, 2025, the default branch for GSAS-II has been
-   changed from ``master`` to a branch called ``main``. If the
-   gsas2full self-installer was used for GSAS-II use of the
-   Help/Update process should make the transition from the ``master``
-   to the new ``main`` version. Other types of installations will
-   likely require that GSAS-II be reinstalled (as described
-   below). Details about what has been changed in this transition can
-   be found in the :ref:`section on this transition <master2main>`,
-   also below. 
+   A new section in the GSAS-II web documentation,
+   `Announcements in "GitHub Discussions" <https://github.com/AdvancedPhotonSource/GSAS-II/discussions/categories/announcements>`_
+   is now in use as a source of information on new capabilities added to
+   GSAS-II. 
 
 Welcome to the home page for GSAS-II, a unique and comprehensive open
 source Python project for determination of crystal structures and

webdocs/install_dev.rst

@@ -11,11 +11,7 @@
  Installing GSAS-II for code development
 ==============================================
 
-.. tip::
-
-   At the time this is being updated (April 22, 2025), the default branch for GSAS-II has been changed from ``master`` to a branch called ``main``. Development tasks should be made on the ``main`` branch rather than ``master``, but if changes are made to ``master`` they can be merged into ``main`` on a case-by-case basis if requested.
-
-While bug fixes are sometimes applied directly to the ``main`` branch (and previously the ``master`` branch). The better way to make changes to GSAS-II is to make a private copy of the ``main`` branch on GitHub; this private copy is called a "fork." When you have a working version with the changes or additions that you want to make, you then issue an invitation to have your changes incorporated into the ``main`` branch. That invitation is called a "pull request" on GitHub, as you wish to have your changes pulled into the central GSAS-II version. You are very much encouraged to try your hand at working on improvements and fixes to GSAS-II.
+While the main developers (Bob and Brian) do most of their work by applying changes directly to the ``main`` branch of GSAS-II. The better way to make changes to GSAS-II is to make a private copy of the ``main`` branch on GitHub; this private copy is called a "fork." When you have a working version with the changes or additions that you want to make, you then issue an invitation to have your changes incorporated into the ``main`` branch. That invitation is called a "pull request" on GitHub, as you wish to have your changes pulled into the central GSAS-II version. You are very much encouraged to try your hand at working on improvements and fixes to GSAS-II.
 
 This documentation section describes the steps needed to "fork a copy" of the GSAS-II repository in your own GitHub account. This means you will establish a private copy of GSAS-II. When you have reached a good point to share what you have done, and provide a "pull request" it allows the GSAS-II developers access to your working version so that the changes can be considered and potentially included into the main distribution.
 
@@ -144,20 +140,24 @@ The code in the ``main`` includes setup files for `Pixi <https://pixi.sh>`_, whi
 It is particularly convenient for GSAS-II software development. 
 There are many ways to install Pixi, as listed `here <https://pixi.sh>`_, or by using the ``conda install pixi`` command, or homebrew, etc. 
 
-Once pixi is installed, it can be used to setup and run GSAS-II, with commands as described below. These commands should be run from the ``<G2>/GSASII/pixi`` directory:
+Once pixi is installed, it can be used to setup and run GSAS-II, with commands as described below. These commands download GSAS-II from GitHub, install it, including compiling the files locally, then runs the self-tests and then finally starts the GSAS-II GUI: 
 
-Linux/MacOS::
-  
-    cd <...>/GSASII/pixi
+        cd <install-location>
+        git clone --depth 1 [email protected]:AdvancedPhotonSource/GSAS-II.git
+        cd GSAS-II/pixi
+        pixi run install
+        pixi run test
+        pixi run ui
 
-Windows:: 
+The pixi program makes all this very easy. Developers will likely want to clone from their own fork of the repo (see above) and may want to use variants on these commands, such as add `--no-single-branch` so that all branches are available and/or change the `--depth` value or even omit that option.  (Any of these increase the download time significantly.)
+Also note the `install-editable` or `install-editable-win` options below. This allows that git-installed code is used to run GSAS-II rather than copies. With this "`editable" option you can make changes to GSAS-II and then restart it and see the impact of your changes immediately [with a bit of tampering, sometimes one can use `importlib.reload()` and see changes as soon as they are saved]. If the normal install process is used, the changes will be seen only after repeating the `pixi run install` step.
 
-    cd <...>\GSASII\pixi
-    
 ---------------------------------------------------
-GSAS-II installation via pixi
+GSAS-II pixi commands
 ---------------------------------------------------
 
+Details on commonly-used commands with pixi follow: 
+
 ``pixi run install``
 
      This will install GSAS-II into the ``pixi/.pixi`` directory where it will be
@@ -174,10 +174,6 @@ GSAS-II installation via pixi
      be used to upload changes to GitHub. Note the slightly different version of
      this command for Windows.
 
----------------------------------------------------
-Commonly-used pixi commands
----------------------------------------------------
-
 After one of the above install commands is used, the following commands can be used:
 
 ``pixi run test``
@@ -187,7 +183,7 @@ After one of the above install commands is used, the following commands can be u
 
 ``pixi run ui``
 
-    Runs the GSAS-II GUI. 
+    Starts the GSAS-II GUI. 
 
 ``pixi run python``