Documentation Standards

Documentation standards are a set of guidelines, conventions, and best practices for creating, organizing, and maintaining technical documentation in software development. They ensure consistency, clarity, and usability across documents like API references, code comments, user manuals, and internal wikis. This methodology helps teams produce high-quality documentation that supports development, collaboration, and user adoption.

Also known as: Doc Standards, Documentation Guidelines, Doc Conventions, Technical Writing Standards, Doc Best Practices

Why learn Documentation Standards?

Developers should learn and use documentation standards to improve code maintainability, facilitate team onboarding, and enhance user experience, especially in collaborative or open-source projects. Specific use cases include documenting APIs for external developers, creating internal knowledge bases for team reference, and ensuring regulatory compliance in industries like healthcare or finance where traceability is critical.

Learning Resources

• docs: Google Developer Documentation Style Guide
• tutorial: Write the Docs - A Guide to Documentation
• article: Documentation as Code - Martin Fowler
• course: Udemy Course: Technical Writing and Documentation
• docs: Diátaxis Framework for Documentation