John O'Keefe
e07301f74a
The planned Playwright screenshot docs (SCREENSHOT_AUTOMATION.md) are replaced by a text standard: screenshots rot silently and cannot be gate-checked, while this UI's labels are server-rendered templ literals that can. Layers: pattern-first prose (concepts survive redesigns) > capability inventory > label->outcome flows > quoted labels > generated references where a registry exists (filters/fields.md precedent). The filter docs stay hands-off exemplars; user-doc tone is plain language by contract, dev/admin tone explicitly deferred. writing-ui-docs.md is the standard (page template, findability notes, tone-by-audience, process rule: a UI change is not done until the docs audit runs). ui-controls.md is the canonical control-label glossary the docs quote from; TestUIControlLabels greps every entry against templates/*.templ (source: ts override; also:-fragments for Alpine-composed labels like the Match/Group header) so renames fail make test in the same commit as the rename. Gate proven both ways: a planted bogus label failed; restored set passes.
118 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
118 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
# Writing UI documentation without screenshots
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Bookhoard's UI documentation uses no screenshots. This page is the standard
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for writing them. The flagship example of the style is the
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[filter system documentation](../user/filters/index.md): one system taught
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once, the places it appears listed as a *pattern*, samples for every field in
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a [generated reference](../user/filters/fields.md) that cannot drift from the
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UI.
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## Why no screenshots
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Screenshots fail in every way the rest of this repo's rot is already gated
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against:
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- **They rot silently.** No gate can diff pixels against the running UI. A
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renamed button makes the screenshot wrong and nothing fails.
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- **They cannot be verified.** Shown text can: this app's UI is
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server-rendered from `templates/*.templ`, so every stable label and heading
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is a literal in the source — checkable, like routes and API examples are.
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- **They die with a redesign.** Text keyed to *function* survives a
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re-layout. Text keyed to a layout dies with its redesign.
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- **They exclude** (screen readers, text search) and bloat diffs.
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The one thing screenshots do better — "which button is it?" — text does via
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**exact quoted labels** plus a semantic path, and the label gate then holds
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that text against the source.
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## The layering — what is load-bearing
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Write every UI page in this order. The top layers are why users don't get
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lost when the UI changes:
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| # | Layer | Content | Lifespan |
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| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| 1 | **The pattern** | What the thing *is*, what is invariant, every place the same pattern appears | Redesign-proof |
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| 2 | **Function inventory** | What the user *can do*, phrased without control names | Redesign-proof |
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| 3 | **How-to with examples** | Numbered flows: current label → the outcome it produces | Survives most changes |
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| 4 | **Current labels** | Exactly quoted, bold | Gate-checked today |
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| 5 | **Generated references** | Enumerables regenerated from source with a currency test | Cannot drift |
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Labels are **tips, not the map**. Layer 3 may quote a label; layer 1 must
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make the page followable even if that label is renamed next week.
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## The page template
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1. **The pattern first.** The concept, its invariants, and everywhere it
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appears — "one system, three places". Never page cartography.
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2. **Function inventory.** Capabilities without control names: "you can pin
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any narrowing to a named filter you can reopen later".
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3. **How-to with examples.** Each step: the label of what you interact with,
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then the outcome ("the count at the bottom shows how many books will
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match"). An example beats an adjective.
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4. **Findability note.** One line telling the reader how to re-locate the
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feature *by function again* after any UI change — deliberately
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label-independent ("it's the drawer opened from any books or podcasts
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list — the only place whose header can read Match ALL").
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5. **Current labels.** Quoted exactly as rendered, one canonical spelling
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per control ([arbitrated by the glossary](ui-controls.md)).
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## Writing rules
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- **Semantic placement, never spatial.** No "top-right" or "at the bottom of
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the screen" talk. "Devices page → the **Register Device** button" survives
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any re-layout.
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- **One canonical label per control.** Two spellings of the same control is
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a defect, not a synonym.
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- **Status updates get a what-it-means table**, not a color description.
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- **Screenshots are never load-bearing.** Default is none.
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## Tone by audience
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- **User Guide (`docs/user/`) — plain language, deliberately.** Short
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sentences. Everyday words. No developer jargon; any term the reader
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genuinely needs (say, *rule*) is explained once, in place, then used
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consistently. The reader is assumed to know books, while the app's own
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words are the only technical vocabulary allowed.
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- **Developer and Administration sections — tone is a separate discussion,
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not yet decided.** Write them plainly and hand-off-rich as well; do not
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import opinions about their voice until that pass happens.
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## Generate what has a registry
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Anything enumerable gets generated from source with a currency test, not
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hand-typed. The precedent: every filter field is
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[generated](../user/filters/fields.md) by `TestFieldReferenceDocIsCurrent`
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from the same registry the menus render — the doc cannot disagree with the
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UI. Hand-typed lists drift fastest; when no registry exists yet, say so in
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the page and lean on the pattern layers.
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## The gates
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- `TestUIControlLabels` (`internal/docs/ui_labels_test.go`): every control in
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the [glossary](ui-controls.md) must exist as a literal in
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`templates/*.templ` (or `web/src` for TS-rendered surfaces, marked
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`source: ts`). Renames fail `make test` in the same commit as the rename.
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- `TestDocsRelativeLinks`: every relative link in the docs tree resolves to
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a real file.
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Naming a new control in prose? Add its glossary entry in the same commit.
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Form labels inside one modal (Name, Description…) are cited inline and not
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glossary-tracked; the glossary carries the controls people navigate by —
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buttons, tabs, badges, page titles.
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## The process rule
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**A UI change is not finished until the docs audit runs.** Moved card,
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renamed button, restructured page — all of it triggers: labels still
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resolve, links still resolve, affected pages re-read against the new
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surface. The pattern layers keep users oriented between audits; the audit
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keeps layers 3–5 honest.
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## What this does not replace
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The filter documentation (and the older filtering overview) is hands-off
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exemplar territory — read it as the model, never restyle it here. New UI
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surfaces (scanning, devices, settings, podcasts, the reader, collections)
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are written this way from the start.
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