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Style Guide

General guidelines

  • Remember that no documentation is better than poor quality documentation.
  • Also, remember that "Less is more" when it comes to technical documentation.
  • Imagine that every word takes up unnecessary space so constantly look for words that can be removed. Please note that this is different from not writing anything at all. We still need to convey the maximum possible information using the minimum possible words.
  • Do not repeat content from other sections of documentation. Each section should serve a purpose and don’t let it overlap.
    • For example, don’t talk about all the possible parameters that a method can take, just point to the class reference.
  • Avoid any form of marketing content.
  • Do not explain code.
    • For example, here we are instantiating the chart using the overload that takes a string and a number, then we..
  • Code samples should be accompanied by text that provides additional insights.
    • For example, DateTime axis has been used here but the chart also has built-in support for handling several other data types (link to other sections of user guide or API reference)
  • Write content from an user perspective and not from the developer or product perspective.
  • Constantly check the flow of the document as you write it. Users shouldn’t feel lost.
  • Write documentation keeping the target audience in mind. In our case, we need to fix a specific level of technical user.
    • For example, we have to assume that the user would know how to create a project in Visual Studio and add reference to the required assemblies

Referencing

  • For API references (i.e. functions, operators, methods, settings) always reference only the first occurrence of the reference in a section. You should always reference objects, except in section headings.
  • Structure references with the why first; the link second.

For example, instead of this:

refer the same steps mentioned here in the manual method to add the Syncfusion datepicker widget into the HTML page.

Type this: to add the Syncfusion datepicker widget into the HTML page, refer the same steps mentioned here in the manual method.

Things to avoid

  • Remove all out of date content
  • Ensure that there are no missing steps in a tutorial. Also, ensure that all code in tutorials are working.
  • Avoid having large amounts of text without accompanying code
  • Incomplete API documentation makes the product look immature.

General English guidelines

  • Use the second person instead of first person
    • We will now see how to create a line chart - Incorrect
    • You can create a line chart as shown below - Correct
  • Do not use a period after every item in a list
  • Write units in words
    • 50 megabytes - Correct
    • 50 MB - Incorrect
  • Each paragraph should only talk about one topic. Each sentence should only talk about one idea.
  • Each sentence should have less than 25 words.
  • Write in a neutral tone without marketing content
    • Essential chart has built in support for over 10 powerful technical indicators - Incorrect
    • Essential chart has built in support for over 10 technical indicators - Correct
  • Constantly review the document that you are writing to see if any words can be removed without changing the information conveyed.
  • You can use a colon after the words "following" or "follows."
  • Use American English and date formats.
    • Behavior vs Behaviour
  • Prefer present tense always except in some special criteria to use other tenses.
    • You will have to send the corrupted word document for troubleshooting. - Incorrect
    • Please send the corrupted word document for troubleshooting. - Correct
  • Avoid using gender specific words like she, he, him or her.
  • When you first use an acronym in a document, you should write out the full term and enclose the acronym in parentheses immediately after the term
    • This guide shows you how to configure the chart control within your favorite Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
  • Use oxford comma when referring to a list of three or more items
    • The data visualization suite consists of Chart, Gauge, and Map.
  • Always refer to the control name with proper casing
    • SfDataGrid vs Datagrid or Data Grid etc.
  • Make sure you do not confuse with these tricky words.
  • Always spell check using a tool like Microsoft Word.

Structure of good documentation

  • Getting started tutorials
  • Write from a real world usage perspective
    • For example, customers would use DocIO for one of the following purposes
  • Dynamically generate reports based on templates.
    1. Load Template
    2. Mail merge
    3. Save as Doc or PDF
  • Document structure manipulation
    1. Load document
    2. Find a specific table
    3. Read its contents
    4. Replace with another table
    5. Save changes
  • Creating documents from code
    • Is there a reason why we need this in documentation since no end user would create the document from scratch instead of using a template since that option is a lot easier.
    • This can be documented as a side note under the "Dynamic document generation" section.
  • Converting from one file format to another (DOC To PDF)
  • Document best practices. For example, do we create an invoice from scratch or is it recommended to start from a template?
  • Document the most common issues encountered.
  • Link to demos where necessary.
  • Let users edit sample code in playground.
  • Possible workflow
    1. Create document outline
    2. Document first purely using bullet points
    3. Form sentences using language guidelines.

External references