# Writing help center articles Our goal is for Zulip to have complete, high-quality documentation about Zulip's features and how to perform certain tasks, such as setting up an organization. There are two types of help center documents: articles about specific features, and a handful of longer guides. The feature articles serve a few different purposes: - Feature discovery, for someone browsing the `/help/` page, and looking at the set of articles and guides. - Public documentation of our feature set, for someone googling "can zulip do ..." - Quick responses to support questions; if someone emails a Zulip admin asking "How do I change my name?", they can reply with a link to the doc. - Feature explanations for new Zulip users and admins, especially for organization settings. Zulip help center documentation is available under `/help/` on any Zulip server; (e.g. or `http://localhost:9991/help/` in the Zulip development environment). The help center documentation is not hosted on ReadTheDocs, since Zulip supports running a server completely disconnected from the Internet, and we'd like the documentation to be available in that environment. The source for help center documentation is the Markdown files under `templates/zerver/help/` in the [main Zulip server repository](https://github.com/zulip/zulip). The file `foo.md` is automatically rendered by the `render_markdown_path` function in `zerver/templatetags/app_filters.py` when the user accesses a URL of the form `/help/foo`; with special cases for `/help/` going to `index.md` and `/help/unknown_article` going to `missing.md` (with a 404 response). Images are usually linked from `static/images/help/`. This means that you can contribute to the Zulip help center documentation by just adding to or editing the collection of Markdown files under `templates/zerver/help`. If you have the Zulip development environment set up, you simply need to reload your browser on `http://localhost:9991/help/foo` to see the latest version of `foo.md` rendered. This system is designed to make writing and maintaining such documentation highly efficient. We link to the docs extensively from the landing pages and in-product, so it's important to keep the docs up to date. ## Guide to writing help center articles Writing documentation is a different form of writing than most people have experience with. ### Getting started There are over 100 feature articles and longer guides in the [Zulip help center](https://zulip.com/help/), so make the most of the current documentation as a resource and guide as you begin. - Use the list on [Zulip help center home](https://zulip.com/help/) to find the section of the docs (e.g. Display settings, Sending messages, Reading messages, etc.) that relates to the new feature you're documenting. - Read through the existing articles in that section and pay attention to the [writing style](#writing-style) used, as well as any [Markdown features](#markdown-features) used to enhance the readability of the documentation. - Should the feature you're documenting be added or merged into an existing article? - If so, you can locate that article in `templates/zerver/help` and start working on updating it with content about the new feature. - If not, choose an existing article to use as a template for your new article and make a list of which articles (or guides) would be good to link to in your new feature documentation. Remember that real estate in the left sidebar is somewhat precious. Minor features should rarely get their own article, and should instead be merged into the existing help center documentation where appropriate. If you are unsure about how and where to document the feature, you can always ask in [#documentation](https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/stream/19-documentation) on the [Zulip community server](https://zulip.com/development-community/). ### Updating an existing article If the new feature you're documenting is a refinement on, or related to, a feature that already has a dedicated help center article, the information will be more useful and discoverable for users as an addition to the existing article. Here are some things to keep in mind when expanding and updating existing help center articles: - Maintain the format and [writing style](#writing-style) of the current article. - Review the [Markdown features](#markdown-features) available and pay attention to the ones already utilized in the article. - Think about where inline links to other help center documentation would be appropriate in the description of the feature. For example, your new feature might relate to general Zulip features like [keyboard shortcuts](https://zulip.com/help/keyboard-shortcuts) or [streams and topics](https://zulip.com/help/streams-and-topics). - Make sure there is a **Related articles** section at the end of the article that again links to any help center documentation mentioned in the text or related to the feature. Creating robust and informative help center articles with good links will allow users to navigate the help center much more effectively. ### Adding a new article If the feature you're documenting needs a new article, here are some things to keep in mind, in addition to the points made above for updating existing documentation: - Choose an existing article in the related section of the help documentation, and copy the format, wording, style, etc. as closely as you can. - If the feature exists in other team chat products, check out their documentation for inspiration. - Fewer words is better than more. Many Zulip users have English as a second language. - Try to put yourself in the shoes of a new Zulip user. What would you want to know? - Remember to explain the purpose of the feature and give context as well as instructions for how to use or enable it. - The goal of user-facing documentation is not to be comprehensive. The goal is to give the right bits of information for the intended audience. An anti-pattern is trying to make up for bad UX by adding help center documentation. It's worth remembering that for most articles, almost 100% of the users of the feature will never read the article. Instructions for filling out forms, interacting with UI widgets (e.g. typeaheads), interacting with modals, etc. should never go in the help center documentation. In such cases, you may be able to fix the problem by adding text in-app, where the user will see it as they are interacting with the feature. ## Writing style Below are some general style and writing conventions that should be used as guidance when documenting Zulip's features. ### User interface When you refer to the features in the Zulip UI, you should **bold** the feature's name followed by the feature itself (e.g. **Settings** page, **Change password** button, **Email** field). No quotation marks should be used. Keep in mind that the UI may change — don’t describe it in more detail than is needed. **Never identify or refer to a button by its color.** ### Voice Do not use `we` to refer to Zulip or its creators; for example, "Zulip also allows ...", rather than "we also allow ...". On the other hand, `you` is ok and used liberally. ### Keyboard shortcuts Use backticks for each keyboard key in the shortcut (e.g. `Enter` or `R`). For shortcuts with more than one key, add a plus sign (+) surrounded by spaces in between the keys (e.g. `Ctrl` + `K`, instead of `Ctrl + K` or `Ctrl`+`K` or `Ctrl` `K`). Use the labels one sees on the actual keyboard rather than the letter they produce when pressed (e.g. `R` and `Shift` + `R` rather than `r` and `R`). **Note**: The existing help center documentation is inconsistent about this ([see this UI redesign issue](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues/21753)). Therefore, if there are already some keyboard shortcuts in the existing help center article, then it is more important to be consistent with those than with the global style. Use non-Mac keyboard keys; for example `Enter`, instead of `Return`. Zulip will automatically translate non-Mac keys to the Mac versions for users with a Mac user agent. If you want to confirm that your documentation is rendering Mac keys correctly when writing documentation in Windows or Linux, you can temporarily change `has_mac_keyboard` in `/static/js/common.ts` to always return `True`. Then when you view your documentation changes in the development environment, the keyboard shortcuts should be rendered with Mac keys where appropriate. ## Markdown features Zulip's Markdown processor allows you to include several special features in your documentation to help improve its readability: - Since raw HTML is supported in Markdown, you can include arbitrary HTML/CSS in your documentation as needed. - Code blocks allow you to highlight syntax, similar to [Zulip's own Markdown](https://zulip.com/help/format-your-message-using-markdown). - Anchor tags can be used to link to headers in other documents. - [Images](#images) of Zulip UI can be added to documentation, if needed. - Inline [icons](#icons) are used to refer to features in the Zulip UI. - Utilize [macros](#macros) to limit repeated content in the documentation. - Create special highlight warning blocks using [tips and warnings](#tips-and-warnings). - Format instructions with tabs using [Markdown tab switcher](#tab-switcher). ### Images Images and screenshots should be included in help center documentation only if they will help guide the user in how to do something (e.g. if the image will make it much clearer which element on the page the user should interact with). For instance, an image of an element should not be included if the element the user needs to interact with is the only thing on the page, but images can be included to show the end result of an interaction with the UI. Using too many screenshots creates maintainability problems (we have to update them every time the UI is changed) and also can make the instructions for something simple look long and complicated. When taking screenshots, the image should never include the whole Zulip browser window in a screenshot; instead, it should only show relevant parts of the app. In addition, the screenshot should always come _after_ the text that describes it, never before. Images are often a part of a numbered step and must be indented four spaces to be formatted correctly. ### Icons You can refer to features in the Zulip UI by referencing their names and their [FontAwesome](https://fontawesome.com/v4.7.0/) (version 4.7.0) text icons within parentheses. **Note:** We have completed migrating away from older base class `icon-vector` and have dropped support for it. We now only support icons from [FontAwesome](https://fontawesome.com/v4.7.0/) (version 4.7.0) which make use of `fa` as a base class. - cog () icon — `cog () icon` - down chevron () icon — `down chevron () icon` - eye () icon — `eye () icon` - file () icon — `file () icon` - filled star () icon — `filled star () icon` - formatting () icon — `formatting () icon` - menu () icon — `menu () icon` - overflow ( ) icon — `overflow ( ) icon` - paperclip () icon — `paperclip () icon` - pencil () icon — `pencil () icon` - pencil and paper () icon — `pencil and paper () icon` - plus () icon — `plus () icon` - smiley face () icon — `smiley face () icon` - star () icon — `star () icon` - trash () icon — `trash () icon` - video-camera () icon — `video-camera () icon` - x () icon — `x () icon` ### Macros **Macros** are elements in the format of `{!macro.md!}` that insert common phrases and steps at the location of the macros. Macros help eliminate repeated content in our documentation. The source for macros is the Markdown files under `templates/zerver/help/include` in the [main Zulip server repository](https://github.com/zulip/zulip). - **Administrator only feature** `{!admin-only.md!}`: Notes that the feature is only available to organization administrators. - **Message actions** `{!message-actions.md!}`: First step to navigating to the on-hover message actions. - **Message actions menu** `{!message-actions-menu.md!}`: Navigate to the message actions menu. - **Save changes** `{!save-changes.md!}`: Save changes after modifying organization settings. - **Stream actions** `{!stream-actions.md!}`: Navigate to the stream actions menu from the left sidebar. - **Start composing** `{!start-composing.md!}`: Open the compose box. ### Tips and warnings A **tip** is any suggestion for the user that is not part of the main set of instructions. For instance, it may address a common problem users may encounter while following the instructions, or point to an option for power users. ```md !!! tip "" If you've forgotten your password, see the [Change your password](/help/change-your-password) page for instructions on how to reset it. ``` A **warning** is a note on what happens when there is some kind of problem. Tips are more common than warnings. ```md !!! warn "" **Note:** If you attempt to input a nonexistent stream name, an error message will appear. ``` All tips/warnings should appear inside tip/warning blocks. There should be only one tip/warning inside each block, and they usually should be formatted as a continuation of a numbered step. ### Tab switcher Our Markdown processor supports easily creating a tab switcher widget design to easily show the instructions for different [platforms](https://zulip.com/help/logging-out) in help center articles, languages in API docs, etc. To create a tab switcher, write: ```md {start_tabs} {tab|desktop-web} # First tab's content {tab|ios} # Second tab's content {tab|android} # Third tab's content {end_tabs} ``` The tab identifiers (e.g. `desktop-web` above) and their mappings to the tabs' labels are declared in [zerver/lib/markdown/tabbed_sections.py][tabbed-sections-code]. [tabbed-sections-code]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip/blob/main/zerver/lib/markdown/tabbed_sections.py This widget can also be used just to create a nice box around a set of instructions ([example](https://zulip.com/help/deactivate-your-account)) by only declaring a single tab.