4 ms·

Ask HN: Your favorite technical document writing application

8 points by MVorlm 9y ago

Hey HN, I'm looking for an application(or website) that lets me easily create technical documents. e.g Documenting a current feature behavior for managers(\w graphs & charts). OSX applications preferable, but feel free to recommend apps for other OSs for fellow HN readers :)

jstewartmobile 9y ago
I've heard good things about this: https://ia.net/writer/ https://ia.net/writer/ It does things Ted-Nelson-style with transclusions. It's android/iOS, so I won't touch it, but people say nice things. Personally, I like GitHub flavored markdown and a text editor. There are programs in all of the popular languages to convert that to HTML. We tried MS Word years ago. The zipped 2007+ format makes the git repository blow up, so we dropped it.
leetintin 9y ago
google keep :)
tetek 9y ago
pages, free, clear, easy to build block/diagrams
git-pull 9y ago
Documentation Utilities (aka Docutils): http://docutils.sourceforge.net/ http://docutils.sourceforge.net/. Allows reStructuredText markup, programming of custom "roles" and "directives", HTML and PDF creation Sphinx Doc: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/. Builds on top of Docutils. Allows API documentation (http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/autodoc.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/autodoc.html) and cross-documentation linking via intersphinx (http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/intersphinx.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/intersphinx.html). epub, PDF, and html output. I've created mini technical manuals at previous workplaces using sphinx. More clickables: For graphs, grab aafig: https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib-aafig/ https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib-aafig/ or graphviz http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/graphviz.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/graphviz.html For enhanced python documentation (numpy and google style api docs) http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/napoleon.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/napoleon.html For creating your own API docs outside of python use sphinx "domains" (http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html): - HTTP: https://github.com/deceze/Sphinx-HTTP-domain https://github.com/deceze/Sphinx-HTTP-domain - .NET: https://github.com/rtfd/sphinxcontrib-dotnetdomain https://github.com/rtfd/sphinxcontrib-dotnetdomain - JS: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#the-javascript-domain http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#the-javascr... - C++: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#id2 http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#id2 - C: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#the-c-domain http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#the-c-domai... - Scala: https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib-scaladomain/ https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib-scaladomain/ - golang: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/sphinxcontrib-golangdomain https://pypi.python.org/pypi/sphinxcontrib-golangdomain

8 points by MVorlm 9y ago

jstewartmobile 9y ago

I've heard good things about this: https://ia.net/writer/ https://ia.net/writer/ It does things Ted-Nelson-style with transclusions. It's android/iOS, so I won't touch it, but people say nice things. Personally, I like GitHub flavored markdown and a text editor. There are programs in all of the popular languages to convert that to HTML. We tried MS Word years ago. The zipped 2007+ format makes the git repository blow up, so we dropped it.

leetintin 9y ago

google keep :)

tetek 9y ago

pages, free, clear, easy to build block/diagrams

git-pull 9y ago

Documentation Utilities (aka Docutils): http://docutils.sourceforge.net/ http://docutils.sourceforge.net/. Allows reStructuredText markup, programming of custom "roles" and "directives", HTML and PDF creation Sphinx Doc: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/. Builds on top of Docutils. Allows API documentation (http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/autodoc.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/autodoc.html) and cross-documentation linking via intersphinx (http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/intersphinx.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/intersphinx.html). epub, PDF, and html output. I've created mini technical manuals at previous workplaces using sphinx. More clickables: For graphs, grab aafig: https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib-aafig/ https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib-aafig/ or graphviz http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/graphviz.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/graphviz.html For enhanced python documentation (numpy and google style api docs) http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/napoleon.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/ext/napoleon.html For creating your own API docs outside of python use sphinx "domains" (http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html): - HTTP: https://github.com/deceze/Sphinx-HTTP-domain https://github.com/deceze/Sphinx-HTTP-domain - .NET: https://github.com/rtfd/sphinxcontrib-dotnetdomain https://github.com/rtfd/sphinxcontrib-dotnetdomain - JS: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#the-javascript-domain http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#the-javascr... - C++: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#id2 http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#id2 - C: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#the-c-domain http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/domains.html#the-c-domai... - Scala: https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib-scaladomain/ https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib-scaladomain/ - golang: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/sphinxcontrib-golangdomain https://pypi.python.org/pypi/sphinxcontrib-golangdomain