Page content types

This page describes the types of content you can add to the United Manufacturing Hub documentation.

The United Manufacturing Hub documentation follows several types of page content:

  • Concept
  • Task
  • Tutorial

Content sections

Each page content type contains a number of sections defined by Markdown comments and HTML headings. You can add content headings to your page with the heading shortcode. The comments and headings help maintain the structure of the page content types.

Examples of Markdown comments defining page content sections:

<!-- overview -->
<!-- body -->

To create common headings in your content pages, use the heading shortcode with a heading string.

Examples of heading strings:

  • whatsnext
  • prerequisites
  • objectives
  • cleanup
  • synopsis
  • seealso
  • options

For example, to create a whatsnext heading, add the heading shortcode with the “whatsnext” string:

## {{% heading "whatsnext" %}}

You can declare a prerequisites heading as follows:

## {{% heading "prerequisites" %}}

The heading shortcode expects one string parameter. The heading string parameter matches the prefix of a variable in the i18n/<lang>.toml files. For example:

i18n/en.toml:

[heading_whatsnext]
other = "What's next"

Content types

Each content type informally defines its expected page structure. Create page content with the suggested page sections.

Concept

A concept page explains some aspect of United Manufacturing Hub. For example, a concept page might describe a specific component of the United Manufacturing Hub and explain the role it plays as an application while it is deployed, scaled, and updated. Typically, concept pages don’t include sequences of steps, but instead provide links to tasks or tutorials.

To write a new concept page, create a Markdown file with the following characteristics:

Concept pages are divided into three sections:

Page section
overview
body
whatsnext

The overview and body sections appear as comments in the concept page. You can add the whatsnext section to your page with the heading shortcode.

Fill each section with content. Follow these guidelines:

  • Organize content with H2 and H3 headings.
  • For overview, set the topic’s context with a single paragraph.
  • For body, explain the concept.
  • For whatsnext, provide a bulleted list of topics (5 maximum) to learn more about the concept.

Task

A task page shows how to do a single thing. The idea is to give readers a sequence of steps that they can actually do as they read the page. A task page can be short or long, provided it stays focused on one area. In a task page, it is OK to blend brief explanations with the steps to be performed, but if you need to provide a lengthy explanation, you should do that in a concept topic. Related task and concept topics should link to each other.

To write a new task page, create a Markdown file with the following characteristics:

Page section
overview
prerequisites
steps
discussion
whatsnext

The overview, steps, and discussion sections appear as comments in the task page. You can add the prerequisites and whatsnext sections to your page with the heading shortcode.

Within each section, write your content. Use the following guidelines:

  • Use a minimum of H2 headings (with two leading # characters). The sections themselves are titled automatically by the template.
  • For overview, use a paragraph to set context for the entire topic.
  • For prerequisites, use bullet lists when possible. Start adding additional prerequisites below the include. The default prerequisites include a running Kubernetes cluster.
  • For steps, use numbered lists.
  • For discussion, use normal content to expand upon the information covered in steps.
  • For whatsnext, give a bullet list of up to 5 topics the reader might be interested in reading next.

For an example of a short task page, see Expose Grafana to the internet . For an example of a longer task page, see Access the database

Tutorial

A tutorial page shows how to accomplish a goal that ties together several United Manufacturing Hub features. A tutorial might provide several sequences of steps that readers can actually do as they read the page. Or it might provide explanations of related pieces of code. For example, a tutorial could provide a walkthrough of a code sample. A tutorial can include brief explanations of the United Manufacturing Hub features that are being tied together, but should link to related concept topics for deep explanations of individual features.

To write a new tutorial page, create a Markdown file with the following characteristics:

Page section
overview
prerequisites
objectives
lessoncontent
cleanup
whatsnext

The overview, objectives, and lessoncontent sections appear as comments in the tutorial page. You can add the prerequisites, cleanup, and whatsnext sections to your page with the heading shortcode.

Within each section, write your content. Use the following guidelines:

  • Use a minimum of H2 headings (with two leading # characters). The sections themselves are titled automatically by the template.
  • For overview, use a paragraph to set context for the entire topic.
  • For prerequisites, use bullet lists when possible. Add additional prerequisites below the ones included by default.
  • For objectives, use bullet lists.
  • For lessoncontent, use a mix of numbered lists and narrative content as appropriate.
  • For cleanup, use numbered lists to describe the steps to clean up the state of the cluster after finishing the task.
  • For whatsnext, give a bullet list of up to 5 topics the reader might be interested in reading next.

What’s next

Last modified May 5, 2023: feat: finishing touches (1147002)