Do you produce the best End-User Documentation?

Developer Documentation

Developer documentation is stored close to the code. Examples are GitHub wiki and Azure DevOps wiki. What about end user documentation?

End-User Documentation

Option 1: Word document

word

✅ Pros:

• Content - Easy to edit
• Navigation - Has nice navigation on the left

❌ Cons:

• Copying Code - No code elements for technical training
• No Google Analytics
• Not native to the web

Option 2: Plain HTML pages

✅ Pros:

• You have complete control over how it looks
• Can add Google Analytics

❌ Cons:

• Content - Hard to edit using HTML
• Navigation - Does not have any navigation
• Copying Code - No code elements for technical training
• Lacks basic features, like search

Option 3: GitBook

GitBook

✅ Pros:

• Content - It's in Markdown
• Navigation - Has nice navigation on the left
• Copying Code - If you have code elements for technical training it allows easy copying and pasting
• Simple Branding options
• It's in GitHub - allows people to give suggestions
• Integrated search
• Integrated with Google Analytics

❌ Cons:

• $ 6.70 USD per user per month (expensive)

Option 4: Nextbook

Nextbook

✅ Pros:

• Content - It's in Markdown
• Navigation - Has nice navigation on the left
• Copying Code - If you have code elements for technical training it allows easy copying and pasting
• It's in GitHub - allows people to give suggestions

❌ Cons:

• No Integrated search
• No Integration with Google Analytics
• No Branding options
• Solo maintainer
• Clunky menu system

Option 5: Docusaurus

docusaurus.io

✅ Pros:

• Content - It's in Markdown
• Navigation - Has nice navigation on the left
• Copying Code - If you have code elements for technical training it allows easy copying and pasting
• Branding via CSS
• It's in GitHub - allows people to give suggestions
• Maintained by Meta (Facebook)
• Highly customizable via plugins
• Integrated search (Algolia and more)
• Integration with Google Analytics (plugin)
• Internationalization (i18n) support
• Free

❌ Cons:

• Need to self-host

Option 6: TinaCMS (recommended)

✅ Pros:

• Content - Supports Markdown
• Editing - user-friendly WYSIWYG editor
• Copying Code - Supports easy copying and pasting of code elements
• Customization - Freedom to build custom React components
• Seamless with GitHub - Allows for pull requrests and suggestions
• Internationalization (i18n) support
• Pricing - Free for small projects and flexible pricing for larger ones
• Hosting - free to choose - no lock in
• Works with Docusaurus

❌ Cons:

Developer investment - You get the best experience by taking the time to develop custom components