Trends in developer documentation 2020 - Dashboard
3,110
Viewed
855
Total Responses
406
Completed
47.49%
Completion Rate
449
Dropouts
9 min
Average Time
Countries | Responses |
---|---|
US | 36.61% |
IN | 14.50% |
DE | 5.15% |
GB | 4.68% |
CA | 4.33% |
RU | 3.74% |
AU | 2.57% |
PL | 1.99% |
UA | 1.99% |
FR | 1.64% |
SE | 1.40% |
IL | 1.40% |
NL | 1.29% |
ES | 1.29% |
IE | 1.17% |
BY | 1.05% |
JP | 0.94% |
CN | 0.82% |
CZ | 0.82% |
BR | 0.82% |
GR | 0.70% |
IT | 0.70% |
DK | 0.70% |
KR | 0.70% |
BE | 0.58% |
PT | 0.58% |
RO | 0.58% |
CH | 0.47% |
MX | 0.47% |
RS | 0.47% |
AT | 0.35% |
FI | 0.35% |
VN | 0.35% |
SG | 0.35% |
HU | 0.35% |
BA | 0.23% |
PH | 0.23% |
MY | 0.23% |
PK | 0.23% |
SI | 0.23% |
JO | 0.23% |
TH | 0.23% |
EE | 0.23% |
NZ | 0.23% |
ID | 0.12% |
LK | 0.12% |
PA | 0.12% |
CL | 0.12% |
LU | 0.12% |
PE | 0.12% |
ZA | 0.12% |
BO | 0.12% |
HK | 0.12% |
NE | 0.12% |
SK | 0.12% |
HR | 0.12% |
Unknown | 0.12% |
HT | 0.12% |
NO | 0.12% |
TZ | 0.12% |
AR | 0.12% |
Total | 100.00% |
Do you primarily create documentation for either developers or engineers?
Answer | Count | Percent |
|
Yes | 577 | 80.47% |
|
No | 112 | 15.62% |
|
Other | 28 | 3.91% |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 717 | 100 % |
Do you primarily create documentation for either developers or engineers? - Text Data for Other
03/08/2020 | 58407762 | Docs as code implementor, technical collateral creator |
03/08/2020 | 58392284 | Sometimes |
03/05/2020 | 58190512 | For my current contract, it's about 50% for developers and 50% for general customers (IT staff, but not necessarily Developers) |
02/27/2020 | 57765329 | I work with the tools used by devs and engineers |
02/25/2020 | 57599608 | For the moment I translate developers documentation into Russian |
02/11/2020 | 56555044 | end-users, admins but also devs |
02/05/2020 | 56167923 | Admins |
01/31/2020 | 55414481 | For both, as well as general users (such as students, general non-profits without a technical developer or engineer still wanting to use our products, etc) |
01/20/2020 | 53615337 | Customers, as it should be |
01/14/2020 | 53213106 | Both end users and developers |
What is your primary authoring tool for creating documentation?
Answer | Count | Percent |
|
Static site generator tools such as Jekyll, Hugo, Gatsby, Sphinx, Docusaurus, VuePress, MkDocs, Middleman, or some other tool listed on staticgen.com. | 137 | 21.99% |
|
Third-party cloud-based platforms such as Readme.io, DeveloperHub, Document 360, Paligo, Clickhelp, etc. | 32 | 5.14% |
|
One of the following XML authoring tools: OxygenXML, XMetal Author, or easyDITA | 70 | 11.24% |
|
Adobe Framemaker (either structured or unstructured) | 17 | 2.73% |
|
Help authoring tools (HATs) such as MadCap Flare, Author-it, or Robohelp | 51 | 8.19% |
|
Wiki platforms (e.g., Mediawiki, Confluence) | 87 | 13.96% |
|
Microsoft Word | 55 | 8.83% |
|
Google Docs | 36 | 5.78% |
|
Internally built tools | 71 | 11.4% |
|
Other | 67 | 10.75% |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 623 | 100 % |
What is your primary authoring tool for creating documentation? - Text Data for Other
03/11/2020 | 58657997 | Wordpress |
03/10/2020 | 58538813 | stoplight studio |
03/08/2020 | 58403398 | Markdown files displayed on GitHub |
03/08/2020 | 58403253 | markdown on github |
03/08/2020 | 58392284 | Sometimes GitBook too |
03/05/2020 | 58190512 | Currently using Flare but am actively looking at the GitHub & Static Site Generator s/w route |
03/04/2020 | 58176210 | Arbortext Epic |
03/01/2020 | 57935871 | Typora |
02/29/2020 | 57900006 | Auto tool generation like Sandcastle or JSDoc |
02/29/2020 | 57850355 | atom + asciidoctor |
What specific tool(s) are you using to create documentation? (This is a freeform answer that follows up on the previous question.)
03/11/2020 | 58700551 | Docsite |
03/11/2020 | 58660155 | I prefer Paligo now, though I've used others. Budgets generally constrain me to Word. |
03/11/2020 | 58657997 | A WordPress site with some content in GitHub. Plus moving over to a Gatsby site (currently Docusaurus) on GitLab. |
03/11/2020 | 58655177 | Oxygen, Confluence, and a corporate tool (Wdesk) |
03/11/2020 | 58644907 | Madcap Flare |
03/10/2020 | 58591834 | jekyll |
03/10/2020 | 58589739 | readme.io, confluence, google docs |
03/10/2020 | 58576961 | Google docs for first round review, taking advantage of collaborative tools with comments. Static site generator, such as SHINS (Shins Is Not Slate) for API documentation. Confluence for internal developer guides. MD Readme's in Github repos. |
03/10/2020 | 58576681 | VuePress for main docs, ReDoc for OpenAPI spec. Content and site code stored in the same repo in GitHub (one each for main docs site & API reference); continuous deployment on Netlify. |
03/10/2020 | 58552007 | MS Word |
If you write content in a text editor, which text editor do you mainly use?
Answer | Count | Percent |
|
Atom editor | 72 | 14.04% |
|
Visual Studio Code | 130 | 25.34% |
|
Sublime Text | 49 | 9.55% |
|
WebStorm | 3 | 0.58% |
|
Notepad++ | 97 | 18.91% |
|
Brackets | 10 | 1.95% |
|
GitHub UI | 21 | 4.09% |
|
Vim | 22 | 4.29% |
|
n/a - I don't use a text editor when writing docs | 56 | 10.92% |
|
Other | 53 | 10.33% |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 513 | 100 % |
If you write content in a text editor, which text editor do you mainly use? - Text Data for Other
03/11/2020 | 58700551 | Emacs |
03/11/2020 | 58660155 | Editpad ++ |
03/10/2020 | 58576961 | MacDown |
03/09/2020 | 58418788 | Internal text editor |
03/08/2020 | 58403398 | CLion, PyCharm |
03/08/2020 | 58397175 | PTC Arbortext Epic Editor |
03/05/2020 | 58241169 | internal markdown editor |
03/05/2020 | 58190512 | I use the Flare xml editor - and also the GitHub UI - and sometimes Notepad++ |
02/29/2020 | 57850399 | RJ TextEd |
02/28/2020 | 57824680 | Flare |
In general, do you follow a "docs-as-code" approach, where you treat documentation similar to how developers treat code? (e.g., write docs in a text editor, manage with version control, compile using a static site generator, build from the server, etc.)
Answer | Count | Percent |
|
Yes | 226 | 55.8% |
|
No | 83 | 20.49% |
|
Somewhat | 91 | 22.47% |
|
Other | 5 | 1.23% |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 405 | 100 % |
In general, do you follow a docs-as-code approach, where you treat documentation similar to how developers treat code? (e.g., write docs in a text editor, manage with version control, compile using a static site generator, build from the server, etc.) - Text Data for Other
03/05/2020 | 58190512 | That is the goal for the SDK docs |
02/25/2020 | 57578792 | I recommend Docs as Code when all the code is in one repo. If there's a family of repos, you lose some of the DaC advantages. |
02/20/2020 | 57194743 | using DITA CMS (Dynamic Release Management) |
01/09/2020 | 52975759 | Docs in the code are code, other docs are in Confluence |