Team Members

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Determine The Current Status of all Projects/Tools/Libraries

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• The purpose of this section is to review the existing documentation hosting setup for multiple Hyperledger Projects.
• Key Takeaways: 
  • Most Projects use ReadtheDocs
  • Most of those ReadtheDocs projects use either Sphinx, Restructured Text for markdown or a theme enhancer like MKdocs
  • A few projects use a non-traditional documentation hosting service, or do not use any documentation hosting service. 
  • Might be prudent to standardize / harmonize the documentation since most projects utilize ReadtheDocs

List of deliverables or work products

• Survey For Maintainers and Community
• Report on Current Documentation processes used.
• Create Recommendations for community
• Create Badging process
• Create templates and guides for achieving badge.

Time to complete

6 months (End 8/28/22)

Leader

Ben W

Initial participant list

Ben W
Bobbi M
John C

Chat Channel

https://discord.com/channels/905194001349627914/943951538345377832

References

TASK FORCE NAME: Documentation Standards

Creation Date
2/28/22

Team Members

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Determine The Current Status of all Projects/Tools/Libraries

• Matrix Sphinx is a tool that allows us to create documentation using simple markup languages and generate multiple output formats: HTML, LaTeX, PDF, Confluence, ePub, and plain text.
• https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs
  https://readthedocs.org/

Examine the current process used for documentation

It's logical to dive deeper into some case studies reflecting the above documentation grid. This section dives into Hyperledger Fabric, Sawtooth, Besu 

This current process review focuses on a variety of documentation for the HyperLedger Fabric project, as a case study indicative of how other pages might be standardized. This initial commit is a fact finding mission with generalized conclusions. These conclusions should be discussed, edited and converted into direct action items. This is not an exhaustive review, but an initial fact finding summary. It is mean to foster open discussion and create a place for new ideas on the betterment of Hyperledger project documentation. 

Main Recommendations: 

• Current / Future Hyperledger Projects should utilize the documentation pattern found on the Fabric documentation sources. 
• The Fabric documentation pattern is as follows: ReadtheDocs exists as the main source of non-code truth, GitHub for all code truth, and a Hyperledger Wiki page for Community related items and badging. 
• All Projects can leverage Discord: include or “pin” documentation relevant posts. (currently all are not pinned) 
• Re-factor all documentation content to adhere to the various sources of truth in the Fabric documentation pattern. 
• Standardize graphics across all documentation, especially in the ReadtheDocs. 
• Harmonize the Read the Docs- especially in the glossary section for concept lookups and graphical standardization. 
• Graphics are present in the Read the Docs page, but not present in the glossary- would be a “nice to have” to complete the glossary section. 

Hyperledger Fabric Documentation 

HyperLedger Fabric  documentation can be found in a variety of sources, depending on your use case. Here are the main documentation standards: 

1. HyperLedger Fabric Read the Docs: https://hyperledger-fabric.readthedocs.io/
• Designed for Multiple Audiences: Developers and Business Professionals
• Generally follows topical organization with bullet points 
• Has code, helpful imagery, written explanations 
• Sorts concepts into tutorials, very comprehensive spread of information 
• Doesn’t include source code files, at times will link to GitHub files for more detail
• Some areas are informative, rich knowledge base
• Use Cases area could be more informative (Recommend re-fresh / re-formatting of both pages, especially wiki page. currently just links to hyperledger wiki) 
2. HyperLedger Fabric Main GitHub page: https://github.com/hyperledger/fabric
• Designed for developers: whether smart contract, application or enterprise blockchain developers 
• Has a Readme file for general information, versioning, installation 
• Links back to the HyperLedger Fabric Wiki 
3. HyperLedger Fabric Wiki: https://wiki.hyperledger.org/display/fabric
• Designed for general audiences, but it very brief from a descriptive standpoint. 
• Is a great starting point for both technical and non technical audiences 
• Includes LifeCycle badging system- noted as “Graduated” See Project LifeCycle
• Has CII Badge and Description 
• Includes multiple links including the ReadtheDocs, GitHub and Original Design Documentation 
• Indicates that the main documentation is the Read the Docs page 
4. HyperLedger Fabric Discord Documentation Channel: https://discord.com/channels/905194001349627914/945038395825070141
• The Discord channel is designed for asking and answering questions, fostering discussion regarding HyperLedger Fabric Documentation 
• Not a single source of truth for any audience, however helpful for business, developer or community members 
• Lots of useful links, but nothing is pinned for quick access
• As Discord becomes bigger, “pinning” will be eminently helpful 
5. HyperLedger Fabric LandScape Page: https://landscape.hyperledger.org/projects?selected=hyperledger-fabric 
   • The LandScape Page holds notable metrics, badging, links and an aggregate of the Fabric Twitter Page
   • Metrics include the programming languages used, and the number of recent commits.
   • The links include a comprehensive list of the various Fabric GitHub repositories 
   • The Twitter aggregate section includes the latest 3 tweets from the Hyperledger Foundation

Some Key Conclusions:

Most current Fabric links point to the Read the Docs page as the source of truth. Thus it should be considered the de facto standard in a general sense. Fabric uses Read the Docs as the main source of truth for descriptions, GitHub as the source of truth for Code, and the HyperLedger Wiki page as the source of Truth for community related items. Projects should be customized as required. But some information in Fabric is spread out over multiple pages.  Thus, it would be more efficient to be grouped by audience for easier readability. For example, some details are on the wiki page that aren’t on Read the Docs- and vice versa. Use of graphics on the Read the Docs is sometimes inconsistent. The TaskForce could hone in on any existing inconsistencies in style, graphics, tables, bullet points, readability, links, and content usefulness for all projects to better serve future and current HyperLedger projects. 

Comparison of Fabric Vs. Besu Documentation

This comparison is an initial analysis of the level of standardization between the Hyperledger Fabric Vs. Besu ReadTheDocs. ReadtheDocs was chosen because the ReadTheDocs is main source of documentation truth, and most deep in knowledge / helpfulness. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Besu introduces itself as a product first, whereas Fabric introduces blockchain before a product introduction. 
• Should we standardize this? Should we introduce the product or concept? 
• Recommendation: Plenty of space in the ReadtheDocs for conceptual resources, let’s introduce the product first. (technical documentation typically assumes the developer knows the fundamentals)
• FAQ style Vs. Concept style. Besu uses FAQ, Fabric conceptual. 
• Practical Vs. Theory: Besu very quickly is practical. Fabric documentation puts you through lots of theory before set-up steps. 
• Main structure: Fabric is structured much differently from Besu. 
• Audience: Even though the Besu documentation is deep and thorough, it is noticeably simpler in structure for a first-time user. 
• Social Media: Besu main page is lacking social media links, and Fabric displays them- particularly the Discord is important for community engagement. 

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Examine the current process used for documentation

It's logical to dive deeper into some case studies reflecting the above documentation grid. This section dives into Hyperledger Fabric, Sawtooth, Besu- and looks for elements to highlight with each comparison. 

This current process review

• Configure and format Markdown
• Markdown extensions
• Documentation style guide
• Documentation release process

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Comparison of Fabric Vs. SawTooth Documentation

This comparison is an initial analysis of the level of standardization between the Hyperledger Fabric Vs. SawTooth ReadTheDocs.  

The terminology used between the two varies: while both begin with a key concepts / key terms introduction. Fabric emphasizes the idea of a Blockchain, while Sawtooth emphasizes the idea of a distributed ledger. While every blockchain uses a distributed ledger system, not all distributed ledgers conform to the characteristics of a blockchain. Therefore greater clarity may be gained if all documentation emphasized blockchain as the standard starting point, which utilizes practices related to distributed ledgers. 

Key Takeaways: 

• No standard navigation style or layout exists between Fabric and Sawtooth. Each project has a different look and feel to their ReadtheDocs
• Layout and conceptual navigation is different between the projects: this could lead to slower development and adoption
• Both Fabric and Sawtooth emphasize concepts first, instead of a QuickStart or rapid development deployment project example
• Fabric has a much deeper conceptual dive into blockchain concepts, while Sawtooth has an initial conceptual dive. 
• Code formatting looks cleaner and more legible on Fabric Documentation. 
• Sawtooth begins with a Glossary, Fabric ends with a Glossary. (Should be consistent between the two.) 
• The Sawtooth documentation may be outdated and require an update to conform to the latest release (per Hardik) 

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Comparison of Fabric Vs. Cosmos Documentation

This comparison is an initial analysis between the Hyperledger Fabric documentation and the Cosmos Blockchain documentation.  

Both Cosmos and Fabric begin with a key concepts / key terms introduction. Fabric emphasizes the idea of an Enterprise level Blockchain, while Cosmos emphasizes the idea of application-specific blockchains.  

Key Takeaways: 

• Cosmos has an updated / web3 look and feel to the UI. 
• Landing page comparison: Cosmos provides a direct and immediate choice between conceptual and Quickstart / Developer Tutorials.
• Introduction comparison: similar themes addressed: history, backgrounder, orientation to product
• Key Concepts: both start with Key Concepts: blockchain, smart contracts, etc. Fabric is more comprehensive from a conceptual standpoint. 
• Cosmos documentation assumes the audience knows blockchain basics, whereas Fabric is more newcomer friendly. 
• Tutorials comparison: Fabric are built-in, while the Cosmos tutorials takes me to an entirely new page, new UI, new layout. (not user-friendly) 
• Cosmos Tutorials means data is duplicated, developer has to start from scratch. 

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Review of ReadtheDocs Syntax, Sphinx, and reStructured Syntax

This section highlights some of the syntax, capabilities and limitations of the ReadtheDocs structure. This is salient because the documentation of various Hyperledger projects relies on the ReadtheDocs platform. 

ReadtheDocs Highlights: 

• Hyperledger documentation on ReadtheDocs is populated by files from the various Hyperledger project GitHub pages
• Those GitHub pages are synced with the ReadtheDocs platform and Pull Requests sync up to an index.rst file
• The index.rst file, as the extension might imply, is built upon Sphinx and reStructured syntax. (RST stands for reStructured) 
• Sphinx and reStructured have their own syntax, formatting and are designed specifically for formatting documentation 

ReStructured Text: 

• reStructured is not a full fledged markdown language, but does allow for some customization 
  • Myriad options for text formatting is available 
  • images and images with hyperlinks are available 
  • various themes are available
  • backgrounds for code snippets like dark mode are available 
  • Tables, References / Bibliographic citations and a Table of Contents are available 

What is an RST file? Here is an RST Example from Hyperledger Fabric: 

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Sphinx 

Sphinx allows for customization of themes, they can be found here. Should they be standard for all projects? 

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Proof of Concept for ReadMe: 

A POC was performed for ReadtheDocs using the tutorial found here. All the templates don't show the full power of RST Syntax, while this POC shows buttons and styling that is possible. The POC was to ensure that certain features that are in the web3 community may be applicable to Hyperledger projects. It was found that features are available but ReadtheDocs relies on third-party plug ins and that deeper / more web3-style layouts would require customization work. 

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POC Key Takeaways: 

A Proof of Concept / Tutorial Page to dive into the customization options and reStructured Syntax for a ReadTheDocs page.

• A GitHub Repo was created for a POC of ReadtheDocs functionality
• Linked up Github with ReadtheDocs so that a Pull Request syncs to the documentation page
• ReStructured Text Syntax was utilized to test image-based button linking 

Image: pull requests sync easily to the Sphinx platform. 

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POC Next Steps / Future Work: Custom CSS and JS 

We can change, or add a common theme to all pages. Currently some pages use standard themes (Ex: Fabric) while others use custom themes (Ex: Besu). 

Apparently, Sphinx can also support custom CSS and JS- thus further customization could be performed. However, the caveat being that this customization would need to be synced up between projects. If different projects used different layouts, functionality it defeats the purpose of standardization. 

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This Review focuses on a variety of documentation for the HyperLedger Fabric project, as a case study indicative of the successes and pitfalls to learn how other pages might be standardized. This initial commit is a fact finding mission with generalized conclusions. These conclusions should be discussed, edited and converted into direct action items. This is not an exhaustive review, but an initial fact finding summary. It is mean to foster open discussion and create a place for new ideas on the betterment of Hyperledger project documentation. 

...

• Current / Future Hyperledger Projects should utilize the a standard documentation pattern found on the Fabric documentation sourcesto be agreed upon. 
• The Fabric documentation pattern is as follows: ReadtheDocs exists as the main source of non-code truth, GitHub for all code truth, and a Hyperledger Wiki page for Community related items and badging. 
• All Projects can leverage Discord: include or “pin” documentation relevant posts. (currently all are not pinned) 
• Re-factor all documentation content to adhere to the various sources of truth in the Fabric agreed upon documentation pattern. 
• Standardize graphics across all documentation, especially in the ReadtheDocs. 
• Harmonize the Read the Docs- especially in the glossary section for concept lookups and graphical standardization. 
• Graphics are present in the Read the Docs page, but not present in the glossary- would be a “nice to have” to complete the glossary section. 

...

Most current Fabric links point to the Read the Docs page as the source of truth. Thus it should be considered the de facto standard in a general sense. Fabric uses Read the Docs as the main source of truth for descriptions, GitHub as the source of truth for Code, and the HyperLedger Wiki page as the source of Truth for community related items. Projects should be customized as required. But some information in Fabric is spread out over multiple pages.  Thus, it would be more efficient to be grouped by audience for easier readability. For example, some details are on the wiki page that aren’t on Read the Docs- and vice versa. Use of graphics on the Read the Docs is sometimes inconsistent. The TaskForce could hone in on any existing inconsistencies in style, graphics, tables, bullet points, readability, links, and content usefulness for all projects to better serve future and current HyperLedger projects. 

Comparison of Fabric Vs. Besu Documentation

This comparison is an initial analysis of the level of standardization between the Hyperledger Fabric Vs. Besu ReadTheDocs. ReadtheDocs was chosen because the ReadTheDocs is main source of documentation truth, and most deep in knowledge / helpfulness. 

...

• Besu introduces itself as a product first, whereas Fabric introduces blockchain before a product introduction. 
• Should we standardize this? Should we introduce the product or concept? 
• Recommendation: Plenty of space in the ReadtheDocs for conceptual resources, let’s introduce the product first. (technical documentation typically assumes the developer knows the fundamentals)
• FAQ style Vs. Concept style. Besu uses FAQ, Fabric conceptual. 
• Practical Vs. Theory: Besu very quickly is practical. Fabric documentation puts you through lots of theory before set-up steps. 
• Main structure: Fabric is structured much differently from Besu. 
• Audience: Even though the Besu documentation is deep and thorough, it is noticeably simpler in structure for a first-time user. 
• Social Media: Besu main page is lacking social media links, and Fabric displays them- particularly the Discord is important for community engagement. 

Comparison of Fabric Vs. SawTooth Documentation

This comparison is an initial analysis of the level of standardization between the Hyperledger Fabric Vs. SawTooth ReadTheDocs.  

...

• No standard navigation style or layout exists between Fabric and Sawtooth. Each project has a different look and feel to their ReadtheDocs
• Layout and conceptual navigation is different between the projects: this could lead to slower development and adoption
• Both Fabric and Sawtooth emphasize concepts first, instead of a QuickStart or rapid development deployment project example
• Fabric has a much deeper conceptual dive into blockchain concepts, while Sawtooth has an initial conceptual dive. 
• Code formatting looks cleaner and more legible on Fabric Documentation. 
• Sawtooth begins with a Glossary, Fabric ends with a Glossary. (Should be consistent between the two.) 
• The Sawtooth documentation may be outdated and require an update to conform to the latest release (per Hardik) 

Comparison of Fabric Vs. Cosmos Documentation

This comparison is an initial analysis between the Hyperledger Fabric documentation and the Cosmos Blockchain documentation.  

...

• Cosmos has an updated / web3 look and feel to the UI. 
• Landing page comparison: Cosmos provides a direct and immediate choice between conceptual and Quickstart / Developer Tutorials.
• Introduction comparison: similar themes addressed: history, backgrounder, orientation to product
• Key Concepts: both start with Key Concepts: blockchain, smart contracts, etc. Fabric is more comprehensive from a conceptual standpoint. 
• Cosmos documentation assumes the audience knows blockchain basics, whereas Fabric is more newcomer friendly. 
• Tutorials comparison: Fabric are built-in, while the Cosmos tutorials takes me to an entirely new page, new UI, new layout. (not user-friendly) 
• Cosmos Tutorials means data is duplicated, developer has to start from scratch. 

Review of ReadtheDocs Syntax, Sphinx, and reStructured Syntax

Image Removed

This Since many Hyperledger projects use ReadtheDocs, it is important to have an understanding of the underlying structure of the platform. Thus, this section highlights some of the syntax, capabilities and limitations of the ReadtheDocs structure. This is salient because the documentation of various Hyperledger projects relies on the ReadtheDocs platform. documentation hosting system. structure.  

ReadtheDocs Highlights: 

• Hyperledger documentation on ReadtheDocs is populated by files from the various Hyperledger project GitHub pages
• Those GitHub pages are synced with the ReadtheDocs platform and Pull Requests sync up to an index.rst file
• The index.rst file, as the extension might imply, is built upon Sphinx and reStructured syntax. (RST stands for reStructured) 
• Sphinx and reStructured have their own syntax, formatting and are designed specifically for formatting documentation 
• Matrix Sphinx is a tool that allows us to create documentation using simple markup languages and generate multiple output formats: HTML, LaTeX, PDF, Confluence, ePub, and plain text.
  
  

ReStructured Text: 

• reStructured is not a full fledged markdown language, but does allow for some customization 
  • Myriad options for text formatting is available 
  • images and images with hyperlinks are available 
  • various themes are available
  • backgrounds for code snippets like dark mode are available 
  • Tables, References / Bibliographic citations and a Table of Contents are available 

...

A POC was performed for ReadtheDocs using the tutorial found here. Was  All the templates don't show the full power of RST Syntax, while this POC shows buttons and styling that is possible. The POC was to ensure that certain features that are in the web3 community may be applicable to Hyperledger projects. It was found that features are available but ReadtheDocs relies on third-party plug ins and that deeper / more web3-style layouts would require customization work. 

Image RemovedImage Added

POC Key Takeaways: 

...

Apparently, Sphinx can also support custom CSS and JS- thus further customization could be performed. However, the caveat being that this customization would need to be synced up between projects. If different projects used different layouts, functionality it defeats the purpose of standardization. 

Create Standards / Best Practices for Community

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1. Location of Documentation: we recommend ReadtheDocs

2. Markup Language

3. Template

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Create Documentation Best Practice badging system.

Internal:

6/6

6/2

• https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs
  https://readthedocs.org/

Task: Check out https://docs.cosmos.network/ for a comparison

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