Qt Writing Guidelines

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.

Language and Article Styles – writing articles and pages

• Language Guidelines
• C++ Documentation Style
• QML Documentation Style
• Examples and Tutorials Style
• Spelling Qt Module Names

QDoc Guidelines – writing the QDoc files

These QDoc guidelines complement the QDoc Manual [qt.io]

• Style Guidelines – proper use of commands, code blocks, markup, and indentation
• Linking Guidelines
• Integrating Examples
• QDoc Project Templates

Qt 5 Documentation Requirements

When writing Qt documentation, ensure that new Qt 5 modules conform to the requirements:

• Qt 5 Documentation
• Checklist for Adding Documentation for a New Module
• Documentation Structure page contains a map of how the directory structure of a repository or module should be

QDoc changes should pass the QDocRegressionTesting

Licensing Qt Reference Documentation

We distribute documentation, examples, or snippets under the following licenses:

• GNU Free Documentation License: for pure documentation (typically in .qdoc files)
• BSD 3-Clause License: for snippet documentation and examples
• LGPL: for demo applications and when LGPL is warranted

The header for the licenses are located in qtbase and should be pasted on the top of the files.

Related Links

• Qt Documentation Wiki [qt.io] – the main Documentation wiki which contains style information and contribution details. Also contains contact information for the Qt Documentation Team
• QDoc Manual [qt.io] – contains a guide to QDoc as well as information about C++ and QML commands
• Building Qt Documentation – outlines how to build the documentation for Qt 5 and for each module
• http://doc-snapshot.qt.io/ [doc-snapshot.qt.io] – the documentation snapshot