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Ask HN: What is your favorite documentation website?

by davewasmer on 10/12/12, 8:16 PM with 6 comments

What are some examples of the best documentation you have used, especially on the web? Based on both the content of the documentation, as well as the UI/UX to actually read it.

I'm interested to see what other developers think makes for good documentation.

  • by okaramian on 10/12/12, 8:36 PM

    I'm not a big fan of having a bunch of handholding examples in a blog or something similar. I remember Spotify's setup being pretty decent as far as application related documentation.

    https://github.com/spotify/apps-tutorial

    If it's something OSS I'm good with a github with the code up, maybe a couple of examples that are well commented and easy to get up and running within the framework, and a reasonable README to guide me through the process.

    I'm already experienced with writing software, so if I have something to play with and read through in a text editor I can learn what's going on faster than reading about how to set hello world up for a new framework.

  • by davewasmer on 10/12/12, 8:25 PM

    Personally, I find Stripe's documentation to be excellent. It's clear, concise, and a good balance between narrative guides and comprehensive reference material:

    https://stripe.com/docs

  • by hayksaakian on 10/12/12, 8:45 PM

    i like rubyonrails.org, a thorough reference of rails basics. I end up using it frequently to correct my syntax for things like rendering partials, etc.

  • by deveshz on 10/14/12, 4:32 PM

    I really like the way Coffeescript is documented. http://coffeescript.org/