Better Documentation

Thanks for downloading the Better Documentation Extension!

Setup

Chrome Users - Turn on the extension from the manage extension settings.
Safari Users  -  You can turn on the Better Documentation extension in Safari Extensions preferences.

How to use the browser extension?

  • To open the settings of the extension, click on the “Better Documentation” icon in your browser.

Stack Overflow Login

  • To log in, click on your user icon located at the top right of the Popup.
  • Better Documentation uses Stack Overflow accounts for authentication purposes, ensuring that edits and notes are trusted based on the user’s Stack Overflow reputation. By logging in, you can access your edits and notes from any device where the extension is installed, regardless of the browser used (Chrome or Safari, even on mobile devices).
  • Although you can use the extension without logging in, you won’t be able to share your edits and notes with the community. Also, your edits and notes will only be saved on your local device, and if the extension is deleted, all your edits and notes will be permanently deleted as well.

Initial Settings

Configure your initial settings by following these steps:

  • Better Documentation works on a domain-name basis. Therefore, you need to enable at least one domain to view and/or add edits and notes. 
  • By default, the “Private” option is turned on, which means that your edits and notes will be saved locally.
  • If you want to save your edits and notes to the cloud so that you can retrieve them on any supported browser on any device where the extension is installed, you can turn on the “Private (Cloud)” option. However, you can only turn on this option if you are signed in.
  • The “Community” option is also available only when you are signed in. If you turn on this option, all edits and notes will be additionally saved so that the community (anyone using the Better Documentation extension) can see them. This feature is the primary goal of the extension, which is to have developers help write better documentation throughout the web.

Modes

When using this extension, two modes are available:

  • Notes – You can leave notes on any website either privately or share them with the community. These notes can be helpful hints or tips to help yourself or your fellow programmers better understand the documentation.
  • Edits – You can correct incorrect or incomplete information from the documentation, including spelling errors if needed. The main goal of this feature is to help developers write better documentation with the help of other developers. This creates crowdsourced documentation that benefits the entire programming community.

Make Notes & Edits:

  • To activate the notes/edits tool in the Better Documentation Extension, click on the Better Documentation Icon shown above or use the shortcut Alt + N (Windows) for notes and the shortcut Alt + A (Windows) for edits.
  • Next, select the text that you would like to leave a note or edit.
  • Enter the note or edit details and press “Save note/edit” to save.

Tools

With the Better Documentation Extension, you can access a range of tools, including:

  • Community edits/notes, which show the Stack Overflow user and their reputation
  • Pagination to indicate multiple edits or notes
  • The ability to view the original text at any time by clicking on the star
  • The ability to see the changes from the original by selecting the Tracked Changes button
  • Navigation controls to help view other notes/edits

About

A Work In Progress:

I am Noel, a self-taught developer who has been programming for fun for over 25 years. Throughout my journey, my number one frustration has been with developer documentation. Poorly written, incomplete, outdated, or incorrect documentation has caused me and every developer endless hours of debugging and frustration. That’s why I created the Better Documentation Extension.

The ultimate goal of this browser extension, currently available at betterdocumentation.com, is to create crowdsourced developer documentation. It is currently available for both Chrome and Safari, with a Firefox version coming soon. Additionally, these extensions are also available on the mobile counterparts of those browsers.

The Better Documentation Extension is a work in progress. I have many ideas and improvements planned, but I wanted to release the extension as soon as possible so that it can start making developer documentation better immediately. If you encounter any issues or have suggestions, please send me a message.

My goal is to make it easier for developers to get the help they need directly on the developer documentation they are reading, without having to leave the webpage. This extension is built with love, and I hope it makes your coding journey less frustrating and more enjoyable. Happy coding!