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| title | tags | created | modified | author |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _PROJECT_ Documentation Analysis | _PROJECT_ | YYYY-MM-DD | YYYY-MM-DD | _NAME_ (@_HANDLE_) |
Introduction
This document analyzes the effectiveness and completeness of the PROJECT open source software (OSS) project's documentation and website. It is funded by the CNCF Foundation as part of its overall effort to incubate, grow, and graduate open source cloud native software projects.
According to CNCF best practices guidelines, effective documentation is a prerequisite for program graduation. The documentation analysis is the first step of a CNCF process aimed at assisting projects with their documentation efforts.
Purpose
This document was written to analyze the current state of PROJECT
documentation. It aims to provide project leaders with an informed understanding
of potential problems in current project documentation. A second document,
_PROJECT_-impementation.md, outlines an actionable plan for improvement. A
third document, _PROJECT_-issues.md, enumerates a backlog of issues to be
added to the project documentation repository. These issues can be taken up by
contributors to improve the documentation.
This document:
- Analyzes the current PROJECT technical documentation and website
- Compares existing documentation against the CNCF’s standards
- Recommends a program of key improvements with the largest return on investment
Scope of analysis
The documentation discussed here includes the entire contents of the website, the technical documentation, and documentation for contributors and users on the PROJECT GitHub repository.
The PROJECT website and documentation are written in [Markdown, ReStructured Text, other] and are compiled using the [Hugo, Docusaurus, Sphynx, other] static site generator with the [Docsy, other] theme and served from [the Netlify platform, other]. The site's code is stored on the PROJECT GitHub repo.
In scope:
- Website: PROJECT-WEBSITE
- Documentation: PROJECT-DOC-URL
- Website repo: PROJECT-DOC-REPO
- [Other; might include a demo server, governance site, or other relevant repositories]
Out of scope:
- Other PROJECT repos: [In general, do not include sub-projects or related "ecosystem" projects]
How this document is organized
This document is divided into three sections that represent three major areas of concern:
- Project documentation: concerns documentation for users of the PROJECT software, aimed at people who intend to use the project software
- Contributor documentation: concerns documentation for new and existing contributors to the PROJECT OSS project
- Website: concerns the mechanics of publishing the documentation, and includes branding, website structure, and maintainability
Each section begins with summary ratings based on a rubric with appropriate criteria for the section, then proceeds to:
- Comments: observations about the existing documentation, with a focus on how it does or does not help PROJECT users achieve their goals.
- Recommendations: suggested changes that would improve the effectiveness of the documentation.
An accompanying document, _PROJECT_-implementation.md,
breaks the recommendations down into concrete actions that can be implemented by
project contributors. Its focus is on drilling down to specific, achievable work
that can be completed in constrained blocks of time. Ultimately, the
implementation items are decomposed into a series of issues and
entered as GitHub issues/issues.
How to use this document
Readers interested only in actionable improvements should skip this document and read the implementation plan and issues list.
Readers interested in the current state of the documentation and the reasoning behind the recommendations should read the section of this document pertaining to their area of concern:
Examples of CNCF documentation that demonstrate the analysis criteria are linked from the criteria specification.
Recommendations, requirements, and best practices
This analysis measures documentation against CNCF project maturity standards, and suggests possible improvements. In most cases there is more than one way to do things. Few recommendations here are meant to be prescriptive. Rather, the recommended implementations represent the reviewers' experience with how to apply documentation best practices. In other words, borrowing terminology from the lexicon of RFCs, the changes described here should be understood as "recommended" or "should" at the strongest, and "optional" or "may" in many cases. Any "must" or "required" actions are clearly denoted as such, and pertain to legal requirements such as copyright and licensing issues.
Project documentation
PROJECT is a graduated project of CNCF. This means that the project should have very high standards for documentation.
PROJECT is an incubating project of CNCF. This means that the project should be developing professional-quality documentation alongside the project code.
| Criterion | Rating (1-5) |
|---|---|
| Information architecture | (rating value) |
| New user content | (rating value) |
| Content maintainability | (rating value) |
| Content creation processes | (rating value) |
| Inclusive language | (rating value) |
Comments
The following sections contain brief assessments of each element of the Project Documentation rubric.
Information architecture
The overall structure (pages/subpages/sections/subsections) of your project documentation. We evaluate on the following:
- Is there high level conceptual/“About” content? Is the documentation feature complete? (i.e., each product feature is documented)
- Are there step-by-step instructions (tasks, tutorials) documented for features?
- Are there any key features which are documented but missing task documentation?
- Is the “happy path”/most common use case documented? Does task and tutorial content demonstrate atomicity and isolation of concerns? (Are tasks clearly named according to user goals?)
- If the documentation does not suffice, is there a clear escalation path for users needing more help? (FAQ, Troubleshooting)
- If the product exposes an API, is there a complete reference?
- Is content up to date and accurate?
New user content
New users are the most avid users of documentation, and need content specifically for them. We evaluate on the following:
- Is “getting started” clearly labeled? (“Getting started”, “Installation”, “First steps”, etc.)
- Is installation documented step-by-step?
- If needed, are multiple OSes documented?
- Do users know where to go after reading the getting started guide?
- Is your new user content clearly signposted on your site’s homepage or at the top of your information architecture?
- Is there easily copy-pastable sample code or other example content?
Content maintainability & site mechanics
As a project scales, concerns like localized (translated) content and versioning become large maintenance burdens, particularly if you don’t plan for them.
We evaluate on the following:
- Is your documentation searchable?
- Are you planning for localization/internationalization with regards to site directory structure? Is a localization framework present?
- Do you have a clearly documented method for versioning your content?
Content creation processes
Documentation is only as useful as it is accurate and well-maintained, and requires the same kind of review and approval processes as code.
We evaluate on the following:
- Is there a clearly documented (ongoing) contribution process for documentation?
- Does your code release process account for documentation creation & updates?
- Who reviews and approves documentation pull requests?
- Does the website have a clear owner/maintainer?
Inclusive language
Creating inclusive project communities is a key goal for all CNCF projects.
We evaluate on the following:
- Are there any customer-facing utilities, endpoints, class names, or feature names that use non-recommended words as documented by the Inclusive Naming Initiative website?
- Does the project use language like "simple", "easy", etc.?
Recommendations
Information architecture
New user content
Content maintainability & site mechanics
Content creation processes
Inclusive language
Contributor documentation
PROJECT is a graduated project of CNCF. This means that the project should have very high standards for documentation.
PROJECT is an incubating project of CNCF. This means that the project should be developing professional-quality documentation alongside the project code.
| Criterion | Rating (1-5) |
|---|---|
| Communication methods documented | (rating value) |
| Beginner friendly issue backlog | (rating value) |
| “New contributor” getting started content | (rating value) |
| Project governance documentation | (rating value) |
Comments
The following sections contain brief assessments of each element of the Contributor Documentation rubric.
Communication methods documented
One of the easiest ways to attract new contributors is making sure they know how to reach you.
We evaluate on the following:
- Is there a Slack/Discord/Discourse/etc. community and is it prominently linked from your website?
- Is there a direct link to your GitHub organization/repository?
- Are weekly/monthly project meetings documented? Is it clear how someone can join those meetings?
- Are mailing lists documented?
Beginner friendly issue backlog
We evaluate on the following:
- Are docs issues well-triaged?
- Is there a clearly marked way for new contributors to make code or documentation contributions (i.e. a “good first issue” label)?
- Are issues well-documented (i.e., more than just a title)?
- Are issues maintained for staleness?
New contributor getting started content
Open source is complex and projects have many processes to manage that. Are processes easy to understand and written down so that new contributors can jump in easily?
We evaluate on the following:
- Do you have a community repository or section on your website?
- Is there a document specifically for new contributors/your first contribution?
- Do new users know where to get help?
Project governance documentation
One of the CNCF’s core project values is open governance.
We evaluate on the following:
- Is project governance clearly documented?
Recommendations
Communication methods documented
Beginner friendly issue backlog
New contributor getting started content
Project governance documentation
Website and infrastructure
PROJECT is a graduated project of CNCF. This means that the project should have very high standards for documentation.
PROJECT is an incubating project of CNCF. This means that the project should be developing professional-quality documentation alongside the project code.
| Criterion | Rating (1-5) |
|---|---|
| Single-source for all files | (rating value) |
| Meets min website req. (for maturity level) | (rating value) |
| Usability, accessibility, and design | (rating value) |
| Branding and design | (rating value) |
| Case studies/social proof | (rating value) |
| SEO, Analytics, and site-local search | (rating value) |
| Maintenance planning | (rating value) |
| A11y plan & implementation | (rating value) |
| Mobile-first plan & impl. | (rating value) |
| HTTPS access & HTTP redirect | (rating value) |
| Google Analytics 4 for production only | (rating value) |
| Indexing allowed for production server only | (rating value) |
| Intra-site / local search | (rating value) |
| Account custodians are documented | (rating value) |
Comments
The following sections contain brief assessments of each element of the Website and documentation infrastructure rubric.
Single-source requirement
Source files for all website pages should reside in a single repo. Among other problems, keeping source files in two places:
- confuses contributors
- requires you to keep two sources in sync
- increases the likelihood of errors
- makes it more complicated to generate the documentation from source files
Ideally, all website files should be in the website repo itself. Alternatively, files should be brought into the website repo via git submodules.
If a project chooses to keep source files in multiple repos, they need a clearly documented strategy for managing mirrored files and new contributions.
Minimal website requirements
Listed here are the minimal website requirements for projects based on their maturity level, either incubating or graduated. (These are the only two levels for which a tech docs analysis can be requested.)
| Criterion | Incubating Requirement | Graduated Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Website guidelines | All guidelines satisfied | All guidelines satisfied |
| [Docs analysis][analysis-doc] (this) | Requested through CNCF service desk | All follow-up actions addressed |
| Project doc: stakeholders | Roles identified and doc needs documented | All stakeholder need identified |
| Project doc: hosting | Hosted directly | Hosted directly |
| Project doc: user docs | Comprehensive, addressing most stakeholder needs | Fully addresses needs of key stakeholders |
Usability, accessibility and devices
Most CNCF websites are accessed from mobile and other non-desktop devices at least 10-20% of the time. Planning for this early in your website's design will be much less effort than retrofitting a desktop-first design.
- Is the website usable from mobile?
- Are doc pages readable?
- Are all / most website features accessible from mobile -- such as the top-nav, site search and in-page table of contents?
- Might a mobile-first design make sense for your project?
Plan for suitable accessibility measures for your website. For example:
- Are color contrasts significant enough for color-impaired readers?
- Are most website features usable using a keyboard only?
- Does text-to-speech offer listeners a good experience?
It is up to each project to set their own guidelines.
Branding and design
CNCF seeks to support enterprise-ready open source software. A key aspect of this is branding and marketing.
We evaluate on the following:
- Is there an easily recognizable brand for the project (logo + color scheme) clearly identifiable?
- Is the brand used across the website consistently?
- Is the website’s typography clean and well-suited for reading?
Case studies/social proof
One of the best ways to advertise an open source project is to show other organizations using it.
We evaluate on the following:
- Are there case studies available for the project and are they documented on the website?
- Are there user testimonials available?
- Is there an active project blog?
- Are there community talks for the project and are they present on the website?
- Is there a logo wall of users/participating organizations?
SEO, Analytics and site-local search
SEO helps users find your project and it's documentation, and analytics helps you monitor site traffic and diagnose issues like page 404s. Intra-site search, while optional, can offer your readers a site-focused search results.
We evaluate on the following:
- Analytics:
- Is analytics enabled for the production server?
- Is analytics disabled for all other deploys?
- If your project used Google Analytics, have you migrated to GA4?
- Can Page-not-found (404) reports easily be generated from you site analytics? Provide a sample of the site's current top-10 404s.
- Is site indexing supported for the production server, while disabled for website previews and builds for non-default branches?
- Is local intra-site search available from the website?
- Are the current custodian(s) of the following accounts clearly documented: analytics, Google Search Console, site-search (such as Google CSE or Algolia)
Maintenance planning
Website maintenance is an important part of project success, especially when project maintainers aren’t web developers.
We evaluate on the following:
- Is your website tooling well supported by the community (i.e., Hugo with the Docsy theme) or commonly used by CNCF projects (our recommended tech stack?)
- Are you actively cultivating website maintainers from within the community?
- Are site build times reasonable?
- Do site maintainers have adequate permissions?
Other
- Is your website accessible via HTTPS?
- Does HTTP access, if any, redirect to HTTPS?