If you are reading this chapter, that means you have completed reading this guide. We hope you enjoyed it and gained invaluable insights into the technical documentation tools you can use for your project. You have also learned about GitHub Pages - a free hosting service that integrates seamlessly with many software development tools, allowing you to upload and host your documentation online for free. This guide uses GitHub Desktop, a user-friendly GitHub application, to ensure a smooth setup process.

This guide began with a comparative table that outlined the pros and cons of each documentation setup, helping you evaluate them against your project requirements and needs.

Throughout this guide, we have presented three of the most popular technical documentation tools:

  1. Just-the-Docs (Jekyll/Markdown) - a free, lightweight hosting solution built on Jekyll static site generator, using simple and widely known Markdown markup language for content creation. We covered the basics of Docs-as-Code approach, introduced the concept of static site generators using Jekyll as an example, and provided a detailed tutorial on implementing the Just-the-Docs Jekyll theme, leveraging the Github Actions workflow for streamlined deployment.

  2. MadCap Flare (HTML) - our guide walked through the process of configuring Flare projects to generate HTML5 output that is ready for publication to a designated folder within the Github repository connected to Github Pages.

  3. oXygen XML (XML/DITA) - the section introduced the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), which is the basis of content creation in oXygen XML. Following the introduction, we have presented a tutorial using DITA-OT’s Transformation Scenarios to generate the WebHelp Responsive output. The project generated to the folder specified in the Transformation Scenario was then successfully published to GitHub Pages.

For each documentation tool, we covered necessary steps - from preparing input files and configuring output publishing workflows to committing changes with Git and setting up GitHub Pages deployment.

After completing the guide for the tool of your choice, you should now be equipped with the practical knowledge needed to successfully publish and maintain your technical documentation projects using GitHub Pages.

If you need to revisit any section, please refer to the navigation pane on the left.