[SeasonOfDocs] The template for a quickstart

Clarence Cromwell clarencewcromwell at gmail.com
Wed Aug 21 21:11:11 PDT 2019


We have to start somewhere. If the quickstart is going to be our first
template, here are some ideas to include in it. I will also look at
examples of some of the quickstarts I've worked on to see if they give me
any more ideas.

Can anyone add to this?

My ideas to contribute to a quickstart template.

1.) The main body should follow these guidelines.

* It should be a clear, concise, step-by-step tutorial (A set of numbered
steps)
* It should describe the easiest way to use the API, as opposed to the most
optimized production modes or most advanced uses
* It should be explaining the basic operations that most users will want to
perform on the site, or the operations they will perform first.
* Each step should contain all the information necessary to complete it.
And the Quickstart should not contain any additional info that is not
needed--because it will be easier to understand if it is as brief as
possible.
* It should include code samples (examples) that users can copy and paste.
For each step that the user has to perform. (If it's an API)
* Each example should be explained in comments that follow directly after
the example, so newcomers can quickly understand how the API works

2.) The quickstart should not include:

* Setup information
* Things that belong in the reference section, like authentication,
throttling, error codes, a complete description of any feature.
* Things that belong in the overview (a general description of the product;
what it can do; what it can't do)

3.) Links to external examples. The quickstart template should include a
list of examples of good quickstarts that you can check out for comparison.
It should discuss what we like or don't like about each example.
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