Documentation style guide

This document gives writing style guidance for Fuchsia.dev, and these guidelines build on the general guidance in the Google Developers Style Guide.

For information on general documentation standards, including file types, locations, and general tone, see the Fuchsia documentation standards. For specific guidance on word choice, style, and structure, see the Fuchsia documentation style guide.

Text and links

Follow the 100 character limit

In the Fuchsia project, the maximum line length for documentation and code is 100 characters.

Mark external links

Use {:.external} to mark any links that are not within fuchsia.dev or fuchsia.googlesource.com:

  1. This is an [external](http://example.com){:.external} link.

Notice the external link icon: This is an external{:.external} link.

Use reference-style links

In general, Fuchsia recommends using reference-style links in Markdown files. Reference style links use a reference identifier associated with the link, and then refers to that identifier whenever you use the link in the doc. This makes links easy to update in the document.

Recommended: Create an identifer where you want the link.

In this example, the link identifier is called fuchsia-home:

  1. Welcome to the [Fuchsia home page][fuchsia-home].

And then define it at the bottom of the document:

  1. [fuchsia-home]: https://fuchsia.dev/

Not recommended: Writing an in-line link like the following:

  1. Welcome to the [Fuchsia home page](www.fuchsia.dev).

You can read more about reference style links in the external Markdown Guide{:.external}.

Headers

Use sentence case for page and section titles

Recommended: Using sentence case.

  1. # This title is an example of sentence case

Not recommended: Using title case:

  1. # This Title is an Example of Title Case

Use dashes, not underscores, for anchors

By default, fuchsia.dev creates anchors using underscores (_) in place of spaces. When referencing a section in a page, create a custom anchor using dashes (-) instead, using {#section-title}. Also, use dashes for file names.

Recommended: Using dashes for anchors

  1.  ## This is a section header {#this-is-a-section-header}

Code samples

Use posix-terminal for shell command examples

Recommended: Allow readers to easily copy the content in a code block by adding posix-terminal after ``` for a shell command.

  1. ```posix-terminal
  2. fx ota
  3. ```

This code block is rendered with $ in the front of the command:

  1. fx ota

Not recommended: Don’t hardcode a $ character in the command.

  1. $ fx ota

Use none to disable the copy feature

Recommended: Add none {:.devsite-disable-click-to-copy} after ``` for code or output examples that do not require readers to copy the content.

  1. ```none {:.devsite-disable-click-to-copy}
  2. $ my_command
  3. It won't be necessary to copy and paste this code block.
  4. ```

This code block is rendered without the copy icon in the top right corner:

```none {:.devsite-disable-click-to-copy} $ my_command It won’t be necessary to copy and paste this code block.

  2. <span class="compare-worse">Not recommended</span>: Enable the copy feature for
  3. view-only content. If you don't specify anything after <code>```</code>, the
  4. copy feature is enabled by default.
  6. <pre>
  7. <code>

$ my_command It won’t be necessary to copy and paste this code block.

  1. </pre>
  3. This code block is rendered as below:

$ my_command It won’t be necessary to copy and paste this code block. ```

Use paths instead of URLs when referring to source code

Recommended: Any links that refer to source code should be referred to by path only. You will get a static error check otherwise.

  1. Update the [state header][sh]
  2. [sh]: /zircon/system/ulib/inspect/include/lib/inspect/cpp/vmo/state.h