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silverstripe-framework/docs/en/05_Contributing/03_Documentation.md

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title: Documentation summary: Writing guide for contributing to SilverStripe developer and CMS user help documentation.

Contributing documentation

Documentation for a software project is a continued and collaborative effort, we encourage everybody to contribute, from simply fixing spelling mistakes, to writing recipes, reviewing existing documentation, and translating the whole thing.

Modifying documentation requires basic PHPDoc and Markdown knowledge, and a GitHub user account.

Editing online

The easiest way of making a change to the documentation is by clicking the "Edit this page" link at the bottom of the page you want to edit. Alternatively, you can find the appropriate .md file in the github.com/silverstripe/silverstripe-framework repository and press the "edit" button. You will need a free GitHub account to do this.

  • After you have made your change, describe it in the "commit summary" and "extended description" fields below, and press "Commit Changes".
  • After that you will see form to submit a Pull Request. You should be able to adjust the version your document ion change is for and then submit the form. Your changes will be sent to the core committers for approval.
You should make the changes in the lowest branch they apply to. For instance, if you fix a spelling issue that you found in the 3.1 documentation, submit your fix to that branch in Github and it'll be copied to the master (3.2) version of the documentation automatically. *Don't submit multiple pull requests*.

Editing on your computer

If you prefer to edit the content on your local machine, you can "fork" the github.com/silverstripe/silverstripe-framework and github.com/silverstripe/silverstripe-cms repositories and send us "pull requests". If you have downloaded SilverStripe or a module, chances are that you already have these repositories on your machine.

The documentation is kept alongside the source code in the docs/ subfolder of any SilverStripe module, framework or CMS folder.

If you submit a new feature or an API change, we strongly recommend that your patch includes updates to the necessary documentation. This helps prevent our documentation from getting out of date.

Repositories

Source control

In order to balance editorial control with effective collaboration, we keep documentation alongside the module source code, e.g. in framework/docs/, or as code comments within PHP code. Contributing documentation is the same process as providing any other patch (see Contributing code).

What to write

See what to write (jacobian.org) for an excellent introduction to the different types of documentation, and producing OSS: "documentation" for good rules of thumb for documenting open source software.

Structure

  • Keep documentation lines to 120 characters.
  • Don't duplicate: Search for existing places to put your documentation. Do you really require a new page, or just a new paragraph of text somewhere?
  • Use PHPDoc in source code: Leave low level technical documentation to code comments within PHP, in PHPDoc format.
  • API and developer guides complement each other: Both forms of documenting source code (API and Developer Guides) are valuable resources.
  • Provide context: Give API documentation the "bigger picture" by referring to developer guides inside your PHPDoc.
  • Make your documentation findable: Documentation lives by interlinking content, so please make sure your contribution doesn't become an inaccessible island. Your page should at least be linked on the index page in the same folder. It can also appear as "related content" on other resource (e.g. /tutorials/site_search might link to /developer_guides/forms/introduction).

Writing style

  • Write in second plural form: Use "we" instead of "I". It gives the text an instructive and collaborative style.
  • It's okay to address the reader: For example "First you'll install a webserver" is good style.
  • Write in an active and direct voice.
  • Mark up correctly: Use preformatted text, emphasis and bold to make technical writing more "scannable".
  • Avoid FAQs: FAQs are not a replacement of a coherent, well explained documentation. If you've done a good job documenting, there shouldn't be any "frequently asked questions" left.
  • "SilverStripe" should always appear without a space, use two capital S’.
  • Use simple language and words. Avoid uncommon jargon and overly long words.
  • Use UK English and not US English. SilverStripe is proudly a New Zealand open source project we use the UK spelling and forms of English. The most common of these differences are -ize vs -ise, or -or vs our (eg color vs colour).
  • We use sentence case for titles so only capitalise the first letter of the first word of a title. Only exceptions to this are when using branded (e.g. SilverStripe), acronyms (e.g. PHP) and class names (e.g. ModelAdmin).
  • Use gender neutral language throughout the document, unless referencing a specific person. Use them, they, their, instead of he and she, his or her.
  • URLs: is the end of your sentence is a URL, you don't need to use a full stop.
  • Bullet points: Sentence case your bullet points, if it is a full sentence then end with a full stop. If it is a short point or list full stops are not required.

Highlighted blocks

There are several built-in block styles for highlighting a paragraph of text. Please use these graphical elements sparingly.

"Tip box": Adds, deepens or accents information in the main text. Can be used for background knowledge, or "see also" links.

Code:

<div class="hint" markdown='1'>
...
</div>
"Notification box": Technical notifications relating to the main text. For example, notifying users about a deprecated feature.

Code:

<div class="notice" markdown='1'>
...
</div>
"Warning box": Highlight a severe bug or technical issue requiring a users attention. For example, a code block with destructive functionality might not have its URL actions secured to keep the code shorter.

Code:

<div class="warning" markdown='1'>
...
</div>

See markdown extra documentation for more restriction on placing HTML blocks inside Markdown.

Translating documentation

Documentation is kept alongside the source code, typically in a module subdirectory like framework/docs/en/. Each language has its own subfolder, which can duplicate parts or the whole body of documentation. German documentation would for example live in framework/docs/de/. The docsviewer module that drives doc.silverstripe.org automatically resolves these subfolders into a language dropdown.

Further reading