Documentation
64 bites tagged Documentation — interview questions with model answers, and 60-second explainers.
cargo doc: Turn Code Comments into a Website
cargo doc turns your Rust doc comments into a searchable HTML website for your crate and its dependencies. Use it to generate a local API reference or explore a dependency's API.
Rust's Philosophy: Documentation and Community First
Rust's philosophy is deeply tied to its learning resources and community, ensuring developers are well-supported. This is evident in its official book, which is bundled with the language installation itself.
Versioning Your Design System Documentation
Think of it like Git for your design system: you create immutable snapshots (versions) of your docs and components. This lets product teams build against a stable spec, even as the design system evolves. The footgun is poor versioning discipline.
Measuring Documentation Effectiveness
Treat your design system docs like a product, not a library. Use analytics on page views, search queries, and user feedback to find confusing components and content gaps. The footgun: high traffic can signal a confusing page, not just a popular one.
IA: How to Organize Docs So People Use Your Design System
Think of your design system docs like a library. Information Architecture (IA) is the shelving and catalog system that lets users find the right component or guideline. It's crucial for any system where discoverability impacts adoption.
Automated Prop Docs with Storybook Autodocs
Treat your component stories as the single source of truth for documentation. Storybook's `autodocs` reads your code to generate interactive docs automatically. It's used in design systems to prevent stale docs. The footgun: sparse types yield sparse docs.
Writing Accessibility Docs for Your Components
Accessibility docs are the user manual for your component's a11y features. They guide consumers on correct usage, like required ARIA attributes or keyboard behavior.
Design System Changelogs: For Humans, Not Machines
A design system changelog translates code changes into human-readable impact. It's a curated notice for consumers—not a raw git log. It's essential for communicating new components, token updates, and breaking changes so teams can adopt updates safely.
Design System Onboarding: The Welcome Mat
Design system onboarding is a welcome mat, not a full manual. It orients new users by explaining the system's purpose and scope, then routes designers to interactive guides and engineers to implementation docs. The footgun is information overload.
Model Cards: The Nutrition Label for AI
A Model Card is a nutrition label for an ML model, detailing its performance, biases, and intended use. It's vital for high-stakes systems to ensure fairness, like in health or legal predictions. The footgun is deploying a model without one, risking misuse.
Component Usage Guidelines: The Manual for Your Design System
Usage guidelines are the instruction manual for your design system, ensuring consistency. They prevent developers from guessing button states and designers from stretching logos.
Architectural Decision Records (ADRs): Documenting 'Why'
An ADR is a short text file capturing the 'why' behind a key engineering choice. Use it for big decisions like choosing a library or defining a core pattern.
Doc Site Generators: Content-First Websites
A doc site generator turns your Markdown files into a complete, searchable website. Use it for project docs or blogs to focus on writing, not web dev. The footgun is thinking they're only for docs; many are powerful static site generators.
Active vs. Passive Voice: Who Did What?
Active voice puts the actor first ("The engineer deployed the code"). Use it in docs and commits for clarity. The footgun is overusing passive voice, which makes writing wordy and hides who is responsible for an action, creating ambiguity.
Content Lifecycle Management: From Idea to Archive
Think of content not as a one-off post, but as an asset with a lifecycle from creation to retirement. This structured approach helps manage large sites, ensuring content stays fresh.
Style Guides: The DNA of Consistent Writing
A style guide is the source code for your brand's voice—a rulebook for writing, formatting, and design. It's used to create a unified experience across marketing, product, and docs.
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