Style guide and content model
Learn about how we keep GitHub's documentation consistent, easy to follow, and maintainable.
Style guide
Follow this guide to make sure GitHub's documentation stays consistent and follows clear patterns that our readers can understand.
About the content model
The content model describes the structure and types of content that we publish.
Contents of a GitHub Docs article
Every article includes a few standard elements, and may include conditional or optional elements. We also use a standard order for content within an article.
About topics
Use topics to make articles searchable.
Conceptual content type
People most often use conceptual content when they are learning about something new to them.
Referential content type
Referential content provides detailed information that people need while they are actively using a feature.
Procedural content type
Procedural content gives context on how a task fits into someone's larger goal.
Troubleshooting content type
Troubleshooting content includes built-in errors we expect people to encounter, common problems reported to support, and situations people might encounter while completing tasks.
Release note content type
Release notes enable readers to understand and prepare for the user-facing changes in each release of GitHub's versioned enterprise products.
Quickstart content type
Quickstarts are best for people who want instructions quickly without lengthy explanations of how something works or why they would want to use it.
Tutorial content type
Tutorials are useful when someone has a basic understanding of the product and is interested in extending their understanding to solve a specific problem
About combining multiple content types
You can combine multiple content types in a single article to help people complete complex tasks.