Documentation Conventions

Note: This document is in the process of being revised. See the new work-in-progress version here: Mattermost Documentation Style Guide.

The most important thing about documentation is getting it done and out to the community.

After that, we can work on upgrading the quality of documentation. The below chart summarizes the different levels of documentation and how the quality gates are applied.

Note: Documentation Guidelines are new, and iterating. Documentation has started to balloon and this is our attempt at reducing ambiguity and increasing consistency, but the conventions here are very open to discussion.

star table

1-Star Requirements: Correctness

List precise dependencies

  1. Be explicit about what specific dependencies have been tested as part of an installation procedure.
  2. Be explicit about assumptions of compatibility on systems that have not been tested.
  3. Do not claim the system works on later versions of a platform if backwards compatibility is not a priority for the dependency (It’s okay to say Chrome version 43 and higher, but not Python 2.6 and higher, because Python 3.0 is explicitly incompatible with previous versions).

Correct

This procedure works on an Ubuntu 14.04 server with Python 2.6 installed and should work on compatible Linux-based operating systems and compatible versions of Python.

Incorrect

This procedure works on Linux servers running Python.

also:

This procedure works on Linux servers running Python 2.6 and higher.

2-Star Requirements: Objective Formatting Checklist

Use headings

Headings in markdown provide anchors that can be used to easily reference sub-sections of long pieces of documentation. This is preferable to just numbering sections without headings.

Correct:

Step 1: Add a heading

This makes things easier to reference via hyperlinks

Incorrect:

Step 1: Add a heading This makes things easier to reference via hyperlinks Step 2: Link to headings So things are easier to find

Use appropriate heading case

Cases in headings may vary depending on usage.

When to use Title Case

H1, H2, H3 headings should be “Title Case” and less than four words, except if a colon is used, then four words per segment separated by the colon.

These large headings are typically shorter and help with navigating large documents

When to use sentence case

H3, H4, H5 headings should be “Sentence case” and can be any length.

These headers are smaller and used to summarize sections. H3 can be considered either a large or small heading.

These conventions are new, so there’s flexibility around them, when you’re not sure, consider the convention here as default.

Sub-section headings should end with a colon

For readability and clear layout, end a sub-section heading with a colon

Correct:

Service Based:

Incorrect:

Service Based

One instruction per line

It’s easy to miss instructions when they’re compounded. Have only one instruction per line, so documentation looks more like a checklist.

A support person should be able to say “Did you complete step 7?” instead of “Did you complete the second part of step 7 after doing XXX?”

Correct:

  1. For Predefined configuration look under Generic and select Docker.
    1. For Environment type select Single instance

Incorrect:

  1. For Predefined configuration look under Generic and select Docker. For Environment type select Single instance

End Lists Consistently

Full sentences in lists should end with proper punctuation. If one point in a bulleted list or numbered list ends with a period, end all points in the list with a period. If all points in the list are fragments, use no end punctuation.

Correct

  • This is an example of a bullet point that ends with a period.

Incorrect

  • Example of an incorrect period at the end of a bullet point.

Avoid Passive Phrases

Examples of passive phrases include “have”, “had”, “was”, “can be”, “has been” and documentation is shorter and clearer without them.

Correct

This software runs on any server that supports Python.

Incorrect

This software can be run on any server that supports Python.

3-Star Requirements: Subjective Style Guidelines

Be Concise

Try to use fewer words when possible.

Correct:

This integration posts issue, comment and merge request events from a GitLab repository into specific Mattermost channels by formatting output from GitLab’s outgoing webhooks to Mattermost’s incoming webhooks.

Incorrect:

This integration makes use of GitLab’s outgoing webhooks and Mattermost’s incoming webhooks to post GitLab events into Mattermost. You can find GitLab’s outgoing webhooks described here and Mattermost’s incoming webhooks described here.

Use appropriate emphasis

Mention Clickable Controls in Bold, Sections and Setting Names in Italics, and Key Strokes in pre-formatted text.

To make it clear and consistent across documentation on how we describe controls that a user is asked to manipulate, we have a number of guidelines:

Bold

  • Please bold the names of controls you’re asking users to click. The text that is bolded should match the label of the control in the user interface. Do not format these references with italics, ALL-CAPS or pre-formatted text.
  • Use > to express a series of clicks, for example clicking on Button One > Button Two > Button Three.
  • If a button might be difficult to find, give a hint about its location before mentioning the name of the control (this helps people find the hint before they start searching, if the see the name of the button first, they might not continue reading to find the hint before starting to look).

Italics

  • Please italicize setting names or section headings that identify that the user is looking in the correct area. The text that is italicized should match the name of the setting or section in the user interface.
  • It is helpful to use italics to guide the user to the correct area before mentioning a clickable action in bold.

pre-formatted text

  • Please use pre-formatted text to identify when a user must enter key strokes or paste text into an input box.

Correct

Type mattermost-integration-giphy in the repo-name field, then click Search and then the Connect button once Heroku finds your repository

Incorrect

Type “mattermost-integration-giphy” in the repo-name field, then click Search and then the Connect button once Heroku finds your repository