Nobody can write
Nobody can write.
Documentation
Docs-as-code in very basic terms
Most guides to docs-as-code, even the ones for non-devs, assume you have some developer knowledge: maybe you're already using version control, or you've encountered build pipelines before, or you're working alongside developers.
This guide is for the people who read that paragraph and wished it came with a glossary. This is docs-as-code for people who don't know what git is and have never installed VS Code.
Resources: Writing for AI
A quick round-up of resources for tech writers on writing for AI.
The first tech docs project
What was your first tech docs project? Your first piece of technical writing? I'm taking a trip down memory lane and mulling on inspiration and impact.
Create custom statuses for pages in Material for MkDocs
The Material theme for the MkDocs static site generator has a Status feature. You can use frontmatter to mark a page as either new or deprecated, and the theme gives it an icon in the navigation.
Recently, at n8n, I wanted to mark pages as beta to signal they're documentation for a beta feature. I didn't want to use new and its default icon for this, so had to add a custom status.
Prevent MkDocs from replacing tabs with spaces in code blocks
This article describes MkDocs' default processing of tabs in code samples, explains why it can be a problem, and shows how to fix it.
Using Markdoc with Eleventy: a quick test
Trying out Stripe's recently open sourced Markdown extension and linter.
Empathy in documentation
How empathy helps us write better documentation.
Decisions in a short doc
An insight into the number of decisions a tech writer makes, even in a short document.