Generally speaking, you should spellcheck everything you write. Word has some fairly decent in-built spelling and grammar checking, and while it may not get everything, it’ll catch a lot. However, on occasion, there’s content you really don’t want to spellcheck. Case in point: API/developer documentation rife with code samples: yes, I did mean to spell it that way; yes, it is all one word; no, I don’t want to capitalise that just because it’s at the start of a line; no, I don’t want a space after that semi-colon… And by the time you’ve hit Ignore for the umpteenth time in a row, you realise you’re back in body text, and you’re not sure how long you’ve been on auto-pilot clicking Ignore, and who knows what garbage you’ve said is ok to leave as is now, and you may as well go right back to page 1 and start over. So what do you do? Forego spellchecking entirely? Copy and paste the non-code-sample bits to a separate doc, spellcheck, then merge back in? Or magically tag the code samples as not to be spellchecked and live happily ever after? It’s a leading question, I admit it. The last option it is, and today’s post is on how to do just that! Continue reading “Do not spellcheck!”
Tag: API
What does API documentation look like?
How long is a piece of string? If you’re starting a new API documentation project and want to see examples of how other people have tackled presenting the information, head on over to http://www.programmableweb.com/ which catalogs a plethora of public-domain API docs in its directory, as well as providing API-related news articles, and some useful how tos.
What’s an API?
I really like this crash course from Zapier that explains what a REST API is and how it works. Each lesson is short and well laid out, with good visuals, and interactive exercises. A great resource for a beginner, or someone in need of a quick refresher! 🙂