Improve front page with 'Features' and more 'highlights'

documentation/docs/index.md

@@ -3,26 +3,93 @@
 # GeoModel - A Detector Description Toolkit for HEP experiments
 
 
-GeoModel is a complete toolkit to write and manage detector description software for High Energy Physics experiments.
+GeoModel is a **complete toolkit** to write and manage the **detector description** for High Energy Physics experiments.
 
 
-The GeoModel Toolkit offers C++ classes that provide geometrical primitives for describing detector geometry (e.g., shapes, logical/physical volumes, transformations), as well as a set of tools for writing, accessing, handling, manipulating, dumping, restoring, visualizing, inspecting, and debugging detector geometries.
+## Intro
+
+The GeoModel Toolkit offers classes that provide geometrical primitives for describing detectors, as well as a set of tools for writing, accessing, handling, manipulating, dumping, restoring, visualizing, inspecting, and debugging the detector geometry.
+
+GeoModel also offers many **memory-saving techniques** which lets developers to optimally describe their detectors while keeping the memory footprint very low.
+
+GeoModel is a **pure C++ toolkit** with only **minimal and ligthweight external dependencies**.
+
+The GeoModel Toolkit is also **highly modular**: 
+
+you can pick the modules and tools you need, and **you will use only what you really need**, without the fear of introducing extra external potentially heavyweight dependencies when not needed.
+
+## Features
+
+### Geometry Description
+
+A complete set of shapes and geometrical primitives to describe your detector's geometry
+
+A set of 'nodes' to build your detector tree
+
+### Alignment
+
+A smart mechanism to handle detector alignment, with multiple alignment costants kept in cache and synchronized
+
+
+### Virtual Geometry / Surfaces
+
+Tools to describe and handle 2D surfaces as part of a Virtual Geometry, which can be placed and misaligned alongside the regular, full geometry
+
+Very useful to describe a simplified Tracking Geometry and still move and handle together with the full geometry
+
+### Visualization 
+
+A complete, **interactive visualization** tool to check, inspect, debug your detector geometry in an easy way
 
-GeoModel also offers several memory-saving techniques that allow code developers to optimally describe their detectors with minimal memory footprint requirements.
+### GDML support
+
+An **exporter** to export a GeoModel geometry into GDML
+
+An **importer** to import a GDML geometry into GeoModel *(work in progress)*
+
+### Standalone Detector Simulation
+
+#### Easy Geant4-based simulation 
+
+An **interactive graphical interface** to steer a standalone Geant4-based simulation of your detector, to get quick feedback on your detector while you're still working on it
+
+#### Clash Detection & Visualization
+
+Standalone tools to identify clash points and overlaps between geometry volumes with a fast Geant4-based algorithm
+
+Interactive visualization of clash points in the standalone GeoModel visualization module
+
+#### Volume Computation
+
+Methods to compute the volume of all shapes, included Boolean shapes, and store it in the GeoModel I/O file for later use
+
+#### Mass calculation
+
+A standalone **mass calculator tool**, to quickly compute the masses of your detector from the command line
+
+#### Geantino Maps
+
+A standalone tool to **generate geantino maps** of your newly built detector
 
-GeoModel is a pure C++ toolkit with only minimal and ligthweight external dependencies.
 
-The GeoModel Toolkit is also highly modular: you can pick the modules and tools you need, and you will use only what you really need, without the fear of introducing extra, potentially heavyweight, dependencies on external libraries.
 
 ----
 
-The external dependencies of the GeoModel toolkit are minimal:
+## External Dependencies
+
+The GeoModel Toolkit offers C++ classes that provide geometrical primitives for describing detector geometry (e.g., shapes, logical/physical volumes, transformations), as well as a set of tools for writing, accessing, handling, manipulating, dumping, restoring, visualizing, inspecting, and debugging detector geometries.
+
+- The [Eigen](https://eigen.tuxfamily.org) math library for the core packages
+
+Additional external dependencies:
 
-- Eigen math library for the core packages
-- SQLite and the `fmt` formatting library for I/O
-- The `Xerces-C` XML parser and the `nlohmann_json` JSON parser to import external data, when the XML interface is chosen
-- The Qt framework, and the Coin3D and SoQt libraries (only when when the visualization module is used)
-- Geant4, when the FullSimLight standalone detector simulation tool is used
+- The lighweight [SQLite](https://www.sqlite.org/) file-based database for I/O, when the `I/O` module is used
+- The [`nlohmann_json`](https://github.com/nlohmann/json) JSON parser library to import external data, when the `Visualization` and `Tools` modules are used
+- The Apache [`Xerces-C`](https://xerces.apache.org/xerces-c/) XML parser library, when the XML interface of the `Tools` module is used
+- The open-source ("Community") version of the [Qt graphics framework](https://www.qt.io/) for the GUI, when the `Visualization` module is used
+- The [Coin](https://github.com/coin3d/coin) and [SoQt](https://github.com/coin3d/soqt) libraries for 3D graphics, when the `Visualization` module is used
+- The [Geant4](https://geant4.web.cern.ch/) detector simulation toolkit, when the standalone detector simulation module `FullSimLight` is used
+- The [`fmt`](https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt) formatting library for advanced string formatting, when the `I/O` module is used
 
 ----