Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI review a lot of technical software documentation. This is one of my go-to resources for explaining how docs should be organized. These ideas are generally accepted among software technical writers; you may just hear them use slightly different words for each doc type. E.g. I use "overview" instead of "explanation". I'll also mention that this framework isn't comprehensive; there are other types of critical documents that aren't explained here, such as release notes. I think the key breakthrough with…
I read this a long time ago, and I’m probably not reading it again today, but I remember finding Hillel Wayne’s comment apt—-there really are more dimensions than this. https://twitter.com/hillelogram/status/1438972753957294080?s...
This seems nearly identical to Diataxis, which I've been telling people about for years: https://diataxis.fr/ What's the history here? Is one a fork of the other?
Previous thread on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21289832 I commented on that thread at the time, giving examples of how I had got documentation for my project[1] - badly - wrong over the years (note: all the links in that comment are now broken). Since then, I have developed a completely new website for the project and have tried to follow the advice given in the link: Tutorials: https://scrawl-v8.rikweb.org.uk/learn How-To guides: https://scrawl-v8.rikweb.org.uk/how-do-i Reference guides…
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 811
- Total comments
- 96
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-08-19 | The Documentation System | bkudria | 4 | 0 |
| 2020-08-20 | A documentation system: tutorials / How tos / reference / explanation | fanf2 | 13 | 1 |
| 2020-08-21 | The Documentation System | onlurking | 3 | 0 |
| 2021-02-02 | A Framework for Writing Better DocumentationFirst breakout · Best thread | omginternets | 637 | 76 |
| 2022-06-25 | Unified theory of documentation systems | O__________O | 112 | 14 |
| 2023-11-23 | The Four Types of Docs | chuckhend | 3 | 2 |
| 2024-03-23 | How-To Document: The Documentation SystemLatest 20+ point return | R41 | 39 | 3 |