3rdparty/boost_1_81_0/more/writingdoc/design.html

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  <title>Writing Documentation for Boost - HTML Design</title>
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        <h3><a href="index.html"><img height="86" width="277" alt="C++ Boost"
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        <h1 align="center">Writing Documentation for Boost</h1>
        <h2 align="center">HTML Design</h2>
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  <hr>
  <dl class="page-index">
    <dt><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></dt>
    <dt><a href="#common-pages">Common Pages Included in HTML
    Documentation</a></dt>
    <dd>
      <dl class="page-index">
        <dt><a href="#index-page">Index</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#overview-page">Overview</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#definitions-page">Definitions</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#rationale-page">Rationale</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#configuration-page">Configuration Information</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#faq-page">Frequently Asked Questions</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#bibliography-page">Bibliography</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#acknowledgements-page">Acknowledgment</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#header-page">Header Reference</a></dt>
      </dl>
    </dd>
    <dt><a href="#layout">Layout</a></dt>
    <dd>
      <dl class="page-index">
        <dt><a href="#page-banner">Page Banner</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#page-index">Page Index</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#content">Documentation Content</a></dt>
        <dd>
          <dl class="page-index">
            <dt><a href="#doc-footnotes">Footnotes</a></dt>
          </dl>
        </dd>
        <dt><a href="#revision-info">Revision Information</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#copyright">Copyright Information</a></dt>
      </dl>
    </dd>
    <dt><a href="#format">Format</a></dt>
    <dd>
      <dl class="page-index">
        <dt><a href="#style-sheets">Cascading Style Sheets</a></dt>
        <dd>
          <dl class="page-index">
            <dt><a href="#boost-style-sheet">Boost Style Sheet</a></dt>
          </dl>
        </dd>
      </dl>
    </dd>
    <dt><a href="#templates">Templates</a></dt>
    <dd>
      <dl class="page-index">
        <dt><a href="#index-template">Index Page Template</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#overview-template">Overview Page Template</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#definitions-template">Definitions Page
        Template</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#rationale-template">Rationale Page Template</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#configuration-template">Configuration Page
        Template</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#faq-template">FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page
        Template</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#bibliography-template">Bibliography Page
        Template</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#acknowledgements-template">Acknowledgments Page
        Template</a></dt>
        <dt><a href="#header-template">Header Page Template</a></dt>
      </dl>
    </dd>
  </dl>
  <h2><a name="introduction" id="introduction"></a>Introduction</h2>
  <p>Boost places no requirements on the design of HTML documentation for
  library submitters. If you are submitting a library for which documentation
  already exists in either HTML or in a form easily converted to HTML then
  there is no need for you to read this document. However, if you have not
  yet written the documentation, or if you expect to have to translate
  documentation written in a format not easily convertible to HTML then this
  document can give you a lot of information on how to go about writing
  documentation in HTML.</p>
  <p>In several places this document assumes you're writing the documentation
  to conform to the structure described in the <a href=
  "structure.html">Documentation Structure</a> document. There is no
  requirement that your documentation content follow these guidelines, but
  they provide an effective way to communicate technical specifications for a
  library in a terse yet precise manner that's familiar to many Boost
  users.</p>
  <p>This document also contains links to <a href="#templates">HTML template
  files</a> that can be used to rapidly develop documentation for a library
  submission. These templates follow the guidelines presented here and in the
  <a href="structure.html">Documentation Structure</a> document.</p>
  <h2><a name="common-pages" id="common-pages"></a>Common Pages Included in
  HTML Documentation</h2>
  <p>Most HTML documentation projects will contain some common pages. General
  guidelines for these common pages are provided below.</p>
  <h3><a name="index-page" id="index-page"></a>Index</h3>
  <p>The index page is the first page presented to a user when he browses the
  documentation. Generally this page should not contain any actual content,
  but instead contains a list of links to specific content. At a minimum this
  list should contain a link to every HTML page contained in the
  documentation. Optionally, sub-lists may be provided for individual pages
  linking to specific subjects within the page. These sub-lists should form a
  "tree" hierarchy based on the level of heading tag used for the specific
  subject. Inclusion of such sub-lists for every page can make the index
  rather lengthy, and since each page should include its own <a href=
  "#page-index">Page Index</a>, it may make the navigation of the
  documentation easier if such sub-lists are avoided. However, there is one
  exception to this guideline: reference documentation should contain a link
  to every header file in the library and a sub-list with a link to every
  macro, value, type, class, function and object (see <a href=
  "structure.html">Documentation Structure</a>) found in the header. Users
  aren't always sure what header file any of these may be contained in, so
  this structure in the index allows for easy navigation of the reference
  documentation.</p>
  <p>The index list should generally be constructed using an HTML "definition
  list" (&lt;dl&gt; and &lt;dt&gt; tags). A definition list has no bullets or
  ordered specifications and produces a cleaner layout then an unordered list
  (&lt;ul&gt; and &lt;li&gt; tags) or an ordered list (&lt;ol&gt; and
  &lt;li&gt; tags). If you choose to use the common <a href=
  "#boost-style-sheet">Boost Style Sheet</a> you should add a
  <code>class="index"</code> attribute/value pair to the &lt;dl&gt; tag.</p>
  <p>An Index page <a href="#index-template">template</a> is provided for
  use.</p>
  <h3><a name="overview-page" id="overview-page"></a>Overview</h3>
  <p>The Overview page is used to introduce the reader to the library. It
  should give a high-level overview of the purpose of the library and
  introduce the reader to any concepts they may be unfamiliar with. This may
  also be an appropriate place for some "light" rationale, though more
  thorough presentation of any rationale would be better placed in the
  <a href="#rationale-page">Rational Page</a>.</p>
  <p>Like most content pages, the Overview page should include a <a href=
  "#page-index">Page Index</a>.</p>
  <p>An Overview page <a href="#overview-template">template</a> is provided
  for use.</p>
  <h3><a name="definitions-page" id="definitions-page"></a>Definitions</h3>
  <p>The Definitions page is used to provide a list of definitions for terms
  that a user may be unfamiliar with.</p>
  <p>The definition list should generally be constructed using an HTML
  "definition list" (&lt;dl&gt; and &lt;DT&gt; tags). A definition list has
  no bullets or ordered specifications and produces a cleaner layout then an
  unordered list (&lt;UL&gt; and &lt;li&gt; tags) or an ordered list
  (&lt;ol&gt; and &lt;li&gt; tags). If you choose to use the common <a href=
  "#boost-style-sheet">Boost Style Sheet</a> you should add a
  <code>class="definition"</code> attribute/value pair to the &lt;dl&gt;
  tag.</p>
  <p>Because this page's content should only contain a list of definitions,
  it should not have a <a href="#page-index">Page Index</a>.</p>
  <p>A Definitions page <a href="#definitions-template">template</a> is
  provided for use.</p>
  <h3><a name="rationale-page" id="rationale-page"></a>Rationale</h3>
  <p>The Rationale page is used to provide lengthy descriptions of the
  rationale behind the library's design. This information helps users to
  understand why a library was designed the way it was and may reduce the
  frequency of a number of frequently asked questions. For a better
  description of why rationale is important see the <a href=
  "http://www.boost.org/more/lib_guide.htm#Rationale">Rationale rationale</a>
  in the general submission guidelines.</p>
  <p>Like most content pages, the Rationale page should include a <a href=
  "#page-index">Page Index</a>.</p>
  <p>A Rationale page <a href="#rationale-template">template</a> is provided
  for use.</p>
  <h3><a name="configuration-page" id="configuration-page"></a>Configuration
  Information</h3>
  <p>The Configuration Information page is used to document configuration
  macros used by the library. Such macros belong in one of three groups:
  macros used by library implenters defined in
  <code>&lt;boost/config.hpp&gt;</code>, macros used by library users to
  detect platform configuration information and macros defined by library
  users to configure library behavior.</p>
  <p>Like most content pages, the Overview page should include a <a href=
  "#page-index">Page Index</a>.</p>
  <p>A Configuration page <a href="#configuration-template">template</a> is
  provided for use.</p>
  <h3><a name="faq-page" id="faq-page"></a>Frequently Asked Questions</h3>
  <p>As a library matures the users will have questions about the usage of
  the library. Often users will ask the same questions over and over again.
  Rather than having to deal with answering the question every time it's
  asked, a Frequently Asked Questions (commonly known as FAQs) page can be
  used to document the questions and answers. This is such a valuable piece
  of documentation not only for the users but for the maintainers as well,
  that a FAQ page should be provided from the outset. If there are no
  questions that will obviously become a FAQ, the initial page may just
  indicate that there are no FAQs yet. This empty place holder helps to
  indicate to the users that you plan to address any FAQs as they occur.</p>
  <p>The <a href="#page-index">Page Index</a> for the FAQ page should contain
  a list of all the questions contained in the document. The actual question
  entries should be formatted with the question in a heading tag and the
  answers in standard paragraph format. This provides a clean presentation
  that's easy to read.</p>
  <p>A Frequently Asked Questions page <a href="#faq-template">template</a>
  is provided for use.</p>
  <h3><a name="bibliography-page" id=
  "bibliography-page"></a>Bibliography</h3>
  <p>The Bibliography page is used to document any bibliographical
  information associated with references made within the documentation to
  external resources. Parenthetical references are used within the
  documentation which link to entries in the Bibliography page.
  Bibliographical entries provide detailed information about the external
  resource and may contain hyper links to the resource if it's available
  online. There are several formal styles used for writing bibliographies.
  You may use what ever style you want, but one of the better styles to
  consider using can be referenced <a href=
  "http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html">here</a>.</p>
  <p>Since the Bibliography page should contain only bibliographical
  information there is no need for a <a href="#page-index">Page
  Index</a>.</p>
  <p>A Bibliography page <a href="#bibliography-template">template</a> is
  provided for use.</p>
  <h3><a name="acknowledgements-page" id=
  "acknowledgements-page"></a>Acknowledgment</h3>
  <p>The Acknowledgment page is used to give credit where credit is due. When
  individuals provide input on the design or implementation, or when you make
  use of someone else's work, you should acknowledge them. This is a courtesy
  that you'd expect others to extend to you, so you should strive to
  acknowledge the efforts of everyone else in your own documentation.</p>
  <p>Since the Acknowledgment page should contain only a list of
  acknowledgment there is no need for a <a href="#page-index">Page
  Index</a>.</p>
  <p>An Acknowledgments page <a href=
  "#acknowledgements-template">template</a> is provided for use.</p>
  <h3><a name="header-page" id="header-page"></a>Header Reference</h3>
  <p>The Header Reference pages are the most important pages in your
  documentation. They document all library headers, including all the macros,
  values, types, classes, functions and objects defined in them. In general
  it may prove useful to follow the guidelines in <a href=
  "structure.html">Documentation Structure</a> when writing the content for
  these pages.</p>
  <p>Like most content pages, the Header Reference pages should include a
  <a href="#page-index">Page Index</a>.</p>
  <p>A Header Reference page <a href="#header-template">template</a> is
  provided for use.</p>
  <h2><a name="layout" id="layout"></a>Layout</h2>
  <p>There are certain page layout concepts that will be used frequently in
  many of your pages. This section outlines some general guidelines that you
  can follow when designing each of these layout concepts for your
  documentation.</p>
  <h3><a name="page-banner" id="page-banner"></a>Page Banner</h3>
  <p>The Page Banner is located at the very top of a page and provides quick
  information about the page contents. This includes the Boost logo, which
  indicates to the reader that this page is part of the Boost web site, a
  title for the documentation (generally the library name) and the page
  title. The Boost logo should hyper link to the Boost home page on the index
  page and to the index page on all other pages. This allows the user to
  easily navigate through the Boost web site and through the documentation.
  The &lt;title&gt; tag for the HTML page should consist of the documentation
  title and the page title separated by a hyphen.</p>
  <p>The Page Banner should be separated from the rest of the page by the use
  of an &lt;hr&gt; tag. This helps to clearly separate the actual content
  from the title information and produces cleaner text.</p>
  <h3><a name="page-index" id="page-index"></a>Page Index</h3>
  <p>The page index is used to quickly navigate to the various sections of
  the documentation on the page, and when present should be located just
  below the Page Banner.</p>
  <p>The index list should generally be constructed using an HTML "definition
  list" (&lt;dl&gt; and &lt;DT&gt; tags). A definition list has no bullets or
  ordered specifications and produces a cleaner layout then an unordered list
  (&lt;UL&gt; and &lt;li&gt; tags) or an ordered list (&lt;ol&gt; and
  &lt;li&gt; tags). If you choose to use the Boost Style Sheet you should add
  a <code>class="page-index"</code> attribute/value pair to the &lt;dl&gt;
  tag.</p>
  <p>Most pages should include a Page Index.</p>
  <h3><a name="content" id="content"></a>Documentation Content</h3>
  <p>The page's actual documentation content will be formatted according to
  the specific needs of individual pages, and should be placed right after
  the Page Index if present, or after the Page Banner if not. In general the
  documentation content will take the form of paragraph text contained
  underneath section headings.</p>
  <h3><a name="doc-footnotes" id="doc-footnotes"></a>Footnotes</h3>
  <p>Footnotes may be used within a page's documentation. Within the
  documentation content a footnote reference should take the form of a
  footnote number in parentheses (the parentheses make it easier for the
  reader to click on the hyper link) hyper linking to the actual footnote at
  the bottom of the page's documentation content. You may either use the
  &lt;sup&gt; tag to format such footnote numbers, or, preferably, you can
  use a CSS style class in order to distinguish the number as a footnote
  instead of as part of the actual text. If you choose to use the common
  <a href="#boost-style-sheet">Boost Style Sheet</a>, a <code>footnote</code>
  class is defined for this purpose.</p>
  <h3><a name="revision-info" id="revision-info"></a>Revision
  Information</h3>
  <p>At the bottom of every page should be some revision information
  indicating when the page was last revised. This information should be
  separated from the rest of the page above by an &lt;hr&gt; tag. The
  following HTML code snippet can be used to track this revision information
  (this code uses some server components that exist on the Boost web site to
  automatically track revision dates with out the need for hand editing the
  date text):</p>
  <pre>
&lt;hr&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Revised
  &lt;!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan --&gt;
  01 January, 2001
  &lt;!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="39359" --&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
</pre>
  <h3><a name="copyright" id="copyright"></a>Copyright Information</h3>
  <p>The very bottom of the page should contain any copyright information
  that applies to the document.</p>
  <h2><a name="format" id="format"></a>Format</h2>
  <p>This section provides general guidelines for formatting documentation
  using HTML. The description of the various "common pages" gave specific
  details for formatting specific sections of the documentation, which should
  override these guidelines.</p>
  <h3><a name="code-format" id="code-format"></a>Code</h3>
  <p>Code within the documentation should be placed within either
  &lt;code&gt;&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;pre&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; tags. For code that's
  placed inline with other text you use &lt;code&gt;&lt;/code&gt; tags, while
  &lt;pre&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; tags are used for code "blocks". If a cascading
  style sheet is used to specify formatting for these tags, a fixed width
  sans serif font should be used. This insures that the code is easily
  distinguishable from the rest of the text. It may also be beneficial to set
  the style for &lt;pre&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; tags to indent the text, to help
  separate code blocks from other structural HTML blocks. The <a href=
  "#boost-style-sheet">Boost Style Sheet</a> specifies formatting for these
  tags.</p>
  <p><b>Note:</b> "Code" includes variable names, function names, etc.</p>
  <h3><a name="lists" id="lists"></a>Lists</h3>
  <p>Lists should be constructed as unordered (&lt;UL&gt; and &lt;li&gt;
  tags), ordered (&lt;ol&gt; and &lt;li&gt; tags) or definition (&lt;dl&gt;
  and &lt;DT&gt; tags) lists in HTML. You use an unordered list when you need
  a collection of items that don't have any kind of logical ordering, such as
  a list of data types that are defined by the library and can be used for a
  template argument. You use an ordered list when the collection of items
  must be grouped in a logical ordering, such as when enumerating the steps
  that an action logically performs. You use a definition list when the list
  consists of not only items that have no logical ordering, but also contains
  definitions/descriptions/etc. of the items. A good example of this is the
  function specifications as described in <a href=
  "structure.html">Documentation Structure</a>.</p>
  <h3><a name="graphics" id="graphics"></a>Graphics</h3>
  <p>Graphics should be used very sparingly, if at all. Graphic images
  greatly effect the download time for many people, which can discourage
  users from reading the documentation. If you need graphic images to help
  illustrate something in your documentation consider supplying only a link
  to the image within the documentation, instead of embedding it directly in
  the text. If an image is going to be included in the text of the document
  you should specify the image's size in the &lt;img&gt; tag, in order to
  allow the user's browser to optimize the formatting of the text before the
  image is loaded.</p>
  <h3><a name="non-breaking-spaces" id="non-breaking-spaces"></a>Non-breaking
  Spaces</h3>
  <p>Non-breaking spaces (&amp;nbsp;) should be avoided in HTML text.
  Generally there are more appropriate ways to format the document, such as
  using list constructs or specifying indentation as a style attribute or in
  cascading style sheets.</p>
  <h3><a name="style-sheets" id="style-sheets"></a>Cascading Style
  Sheets</h3>
  <p>Cascading style sheets allow you to apply some advanced formatting
  styles to an HTML document. More importantly, they allow you to change the
  formatting in a single file and effect all pages using the style sheet.
  Instead of struggling to produce a specific format in HTML it's often
  easier and more flexible to specify the formatting in a style sheet.</p>
  <h4><a name="boost-style-sheet" id="boost-style-sheet"></a>Boost Style
  Sheet</h4>
  <p>The concept of using cascading style sheets to format HTML is such a
  good idea that it can be beneficial to apply this across the entire Boost
  site. Of course we can't require this (if Boost were to require such trivia
  for submissions it's likely that many programmers would be discouraged from
  contributing). However, a "standard" Boost style sheet
  (http://www.boost.org/boost.css) is supplied anyway, so that a contributer
  can quickly and easily produce clear and consistent documentation that
  reflects a Boost "brand" if they so choose. If, at a later date, it's
  decided to update the Boost "brand", it may be done in this single file and
  all documents using the style sheet will automatically be updated.</p>
  <p>The Boost supplied style sheet not only specifies styles for many
  standard tags, it also specifies several style "classes". A class is
  specified for a given tag instead of being applied to all instances of a
  given tag type. Below is a list of the classes specified in the Boost style
  sheet and a description of when to use them:</p>
  <dl>
    <dt><b>index</b> Used for &lt;dl&gt; tags when writing index lists.</dt>
    <dt><b>page-index</b> Used for &lt;dl&gt; tags when writing page index
    lists.</dt>
    <dt><b>Footnote</b> Used when writing Footnote numbers.</dt>
    <dt><b>function-semantics</b> Used for &lt;dl&gt; tags when writing
    function semantic lists.</dt>
  </dl>
  <h2><a name="templates" id="templates"></a>Templates</h2>
  <p>Instead of hand coding every HTML page, HTML "templates" can be used
  instead. The list below provides links to templates that may be used when
  writing documentation for a contribution to Boost. Links provided in these
  templates assume the files will reside in the "traditional" directory
  hierarchy of <i>boost/libs/library/doc</i>. They may need correcting if the
  file will reside in some other location.</p>
  <p><b>Note:</b> Since these "templates" are just HTML pages simply clicking
  on the links below will load the template in your browser. You will need to
  use a browser specific method to download the files instead of loading them
  into the browser (for instance, on most Windows browsers you can right
  click on the link and select the appropriate command from the context
  sensitive menu).</p>
  <ul>
    <li><a name="index-template" id="index-template"></a><a href=
    "template/index.html">Index Page Template</a></li>
    <li><a name="overview-template" id="overview-template"></a><a href=
    "template/overview.html">Overview Page Template</a></li>
    <li><a name="definitions-template" id="definitions-template"></a><a href=
    "template/definitions.html">Definitions Page Template</a></li>
    <li><a name="rationale-template" id="rationale-template"></a><a href=
    "template/rationale.html">Rationale Page Template</a></li>
    <li><a name="configuration-template" id=
    "configuration-template"></a><a href=
    "template/configuration.html">Configuration Page Template</a></li>
    <li><a name="faq-template" id="faq-template"></a><a href=
    "template/faq.html">FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Page
    Template</a></li>
    <li><a name="bibliography-template" id=
    "bibliography-template"></a><a href=
    "template/bibliography.html">Bibliography Page Template</a></li>
    <li><a name="acknowledgements-template" id=
    "acknowledgements-template"></a><a href=
    "template/acknowledgments.html">Acknowledgments Page Template</a></li>
    <li><a name="header-template" id="header-template"></a><a href=
    "template/header.html">Header Page Template</a></li>
  </ul>
  <hr>
  <p><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer"><img border="0" src=
  "../../doc/images/valid-html401.png" alt="Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional"
  height="31" width="88"></a></p>
  <p>Revised 
  <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" s-type="EDITED" s-format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->04
  December, 2006<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="38514" --></p>
  <p><i>Copyright &copy; 2001 <a href=
  "mailto:williamkempf@hotmail.com">William E. Kempf</a></i></p>
  <p><i>Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See
  accompanying file <a href="../../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or
  copy at <a href=
  "http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)</i></p>
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