Qt Writing Guidelines
The Qt Writing Guidelines contains information about writing Qt documentation in a consistent way. Though there are exceptions, maintain the consistency level outlined in the guidelines or the existing Qt documentation.
This guideline is maintained by the Qt Documentation Team, with members across the different Qt Group sites. Visit their page at: Category:Developing Qt::Documentation
Language Style
We use the Microsoft Writing Style Guide in the Qt documentation. Essentially, use clear and direct language in American English. We write to a diverse audience and we need to communicate Qt topics in an approachable and understandable manner.
Here are some specifics for Qt:
- Use active voice, not passive. Passive does not make a sentence formal, but unnecessarily weakens the sentence. See Verbs
- Use the pronoun you in to address the reader when appropriate. See Nouns and Pronouns.
- Use because instead of "since" or "as". See Use simple words, concise sentences.
- Use a serial comma, also known as the Oxford comma. See Commas
- Use the correct spelling and case for Qt Products. See Qt Terms and Concepts
- Use US spelling and avoid latin abbreviations. See Use US spelling and avoid non-English words. Here is a summary :
| Use | Instead of |
|---|---|
| that is | i.e. |
| namely | viz. |
| therefore | ergo |
New in Qt 6.8, the Qt Reference Documentation is available in translated formats. Think about how translatable the sentence you are writing. If the text is too complicated, then
it may confuse the reader.
Tip: Say the text out loud. If it sounds weird, then it is weird...then it may also be wrong.
Vale Support
Vale is a linter that detects improper use of language and can make suggestions in-place. Vale has command-line interface and is also available for Qt Creator and VS Code
For more information about Vale, visit Setting Up Vale.
Writing API Documentation
We document Qt APIs in the sources and use QDoc to generate the HTML for the doc.qt.io site and an offline version for Qt Creator.
C++ and QML documentation follow a similar style, but there are differences. See the following pages for documenting APIs.
For designing Qt APIs, visit:
Using QDoc to Write Documentation
These QDoc guidelines complement the QDoc Manual
- Style Guidelines - proper use of commands, code blocks, markup, and indentation
- Linking Guidelines
- QDoc Project Templates
- Checklist for Adding Documentation for a New Module
- Documentation Structure page contains a map of how the directory structure of a repository or module
(Mis)Using QDoc \note
This is a prevalent issue that warrants its own section.
QDoc has a \note command that creates a stylized Note: in the documentation.
Use it sparingly but be aware of its intended use and consequences.
- Notes break the flow of the paragraph or section, creating an aside from the usual topic.
- Use notes for topics or ideas that do not fit into a paragraph, but is useful for short and brief comments.
- Notes do not have to be for critical information, but it may be used to point out critical information.
Avoid notes when unnecessary and integrate the sentence or statement into a paragraph. A one-line paragraph dangling in a page is better than the overuse of notes.
Documenting Examples
Qt Examples are an important part of the Qt Framework. They show how the framework is to be used and inspire developers about possibilities with Qt. These pages help with creating examples, documenting examples, and how to contribute examples into the Qt repositories.
- Qt Examples Guidelines - do's and don'ts for examples
- Writing Example Documentation and Tutorials - writing example documentation and tutorials
- Contributing Examples to Qt - configuring an example for integration into the Qt repositories
- Qt Examples in Qt Creator - ensuring that the example works within Qt Creator
Including Images
The requirements for images in Qt documentation is outlined in QUIP-21.
- QUIP-21 Using images in Qt documentation
Qt 5 Documentation Requirements
For Qt 5 documentation, or those who create documentation using Qt 5, see the following pages:
QDoc changes should pass the QDocRegressionTesting