2021-03-12

Divio’s documentation system

Updated to add: This doc system has a new name and new home: Diátaxis Framework.

I’m surprised I haven’t linked to this already. Divio’s documentation system is a system in the best sense of the word: a way to think about, organize, and execute on something. In this case, the key insight is that there are four types of documentation:

Tutorials How-to guides Reference Explanation
oriented to learning a goal information understanding
must allow the newcomer to get started show how to solve a specific problem describe the machinery explain
its form a lesson a series of steps dry description discursive explanation
analogy teaching a small child how to cook a recipe in a cookery book a reference encyclopaedia article an article on culinary social history

The author, Daniele Procida, has the system’s website up on GitHub.