This README explains the user cases, source file organization, and procedures for building the Blockstack documentation. You can find the documentation at https://docs.blockstack.com
Blockstack is a ecosystem build around a platform. There are several types of users to support with the documentation. Types are exist when they can operate within a vertical of the ecosystem. These are the users that can appear within this ecosystem and that the docs must support.
<table>
<tr>
<th>Users</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>STX holders</th>
<td>Users who have purchased STX and who use our wallet to move STX holdings. These users want to know about Blockstack as a company and STX as an investment token. They have a Blockstack identity, they use the Blockstack wallet, and may also use the Blockstack explorer.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>DApp users</th>
<td>Users who make use of applications built on the Blockstack platform. These users have a Blockstack identity and typically use the Blockstack Browser at some point.</td>
<td>These are users that run Stacks node or who write Clarity contracts. These are also users who build wallets or explorers into the Blockstack platform.</td>
Finally, a key user set but seldom mentioned for any company docs is the company employees. These users are expected to make use of the documentation when onboarding or to support other users.
## Documentation backend
Our documentation is written in Markdown (`.md`), built using [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/), and deployed to a Netlify server. Serving the content from Netlify allows us to use functionality (plugins/javascript) not supported with standard GitHub pages.
Blockstack versions it source files in a public GitHub repo (duh :smile). You can submit changes by cloning, forking, and submitting a pull request. You can also make use of the **Edit this page on GitHub** link from any https://docs.blockstack.org page.
Some content is single sourced. Modifying single source content requires an understanding of that concept, how it works with Liquid tags, and the organization of this repo's source files.
[UIKit](https://getuikit.com/docs/introduction) provides the documentation theme. There is explicit use of HTML plus UIKit components directly in files where needed for special layouts. And there is use of CSV and JSON source files transformed with [Liquid template language](https://help.shopify.com/en/themes/liquid) to produce reference content.
<td>Information for end-users about our identity, Storage, and using the browser. There are also three of the original tutorials in there. User docs controlled by in the the <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/docs.blockstack/blob/master/_data/navigation_usenew.yml">user menu</a>. The three tutorials that appear in the <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/docs.blockstack/blob/master/_data/navigation_learn.yml">developer menu</a> There is an <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/docs.blockstack/issues/501"target="_blank">outstanding issue</a> to move these.</td>
<td>Contains several shell files that redirect to our reference documentation sites such as Javascript, IOS, and so forth. The reference docs are linked from the developer, core, and Gaia menus.</td>
<td>Each of these references are generated by their respective repos, core.blockstack.org from <code>blockstack-core</code>, Javascript docs from the <code>blockstack.js</code> and so forth.</td>
<td>Information for wallet, blockchain, or Clarity developers -- including Atlas, BNS, and so forth. <b>This content STILL needs to be synced with the master docs subdirectory in <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack-core/tree/master/docs"target="_blank">blockstack-core</a>.</b></td>
<td>Information for application developers covers using the Javascript library, our mobile SDKs, and the concepts hat support them. Navigation controlled by <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/docs.blockstack/blob/master/_data/navigation_learn.yml">developer menu</a></td>
<td>This information was never associated with a single repo. Much of it does rely heavily on <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack.js">https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack.js</a>.</td>
<td>Contains files for single-sourcing all the FAQs. The Blockstack docs has a single page that <ahref="https://docs.blockstack.org/faqs/allfaqs"target="_blank">lists all the faqs</a>; then several pages in different sections re-use this information. See the FAQs section below for detail about how these files figure into FAQS.</td>
<td>Information for Stacks holders and people curious about what Blockstack does. Appear in the the <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/docs.blockstack/blob/master/_data/navigation_org.yml">organization menu</a></td>
<td>Information for developers using storage in their apps or creating Gaia servers. Appear in the the <ahref="https://github.com/blockstack/docs.blockstack/blob/master/_data/navigation_storage.yml">storage menu</a></td>
The `_data/cliRef.json` file is generated from the `blockstack-cli` subcommand `docs`. This data file is consumed by the `_includes/commandline.md` file which is used to serve up the reference.
3. Make sure the generated docs are clean by building the documentation.
If you run into any problem in the generation usually it results from a problem in the repo. You can make a pull request back to the repo to fix anything.
As of 8/12/19 Clarity is in the [develop](https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack-core/tree/develop) branch of core. You can build the Clarity command line from the Docker image. `core/src/vm/docs/mod.rs`
This generates the JSON source files which are consumed through Liquid templates into markdown.
7. Rebuild the documentation site with Jekyll.
8. Review the changes in the Clarity documentation to ensure that no breaking changes were introduced through code changes.
9. If you find the documentation is no longer formatting correctly or there are errors in the reference, create a PR against the `blockstack-core` repo.
The FAQ system servers single-sourced content that support the FAQs that appear in blockstack.org, and stackstoken.com site. We have FAQs that fall into these categories:
FAQs are usually written internally by a team that are unfamiliar with markdown or HTML used in websites. So, FAQs are produced using this process:
1. Draft new or revised FAQs in a Google or Paper document.
2. Review the drafts and approve them.
3. Convert the FAQ document to HTML.
4. Strip out the unnecessary codes such as `id` or `class` designations.
This leaves behind plain html.
5. Add the new FAQs to the `_data/theFAQS.json` file.
Currently this is manually done through cut and paste.
6. Copy the JSON for `appminers` categories to the `_data/appFAQ.json` file.
7. Run the Jekyll build and verify the content builds correctly by viewing this `LOCAL_HOST/faqs/allfaqs`
8. Push your changes to the site and redeploy.
Single sourcing the content ensures that FAQs are the same regardless of where and on which property they appear in. These source files play a role in the FAQ single-sourcing layout:
