Note: The standards are specifically for document contributions via GitHub using the "restructuredstext" (markup language supported by "Read the Docs", RtD). The RtD LibreCAD doc site has configured to in a particular way, so following these standards is important. If these standards are not maintained it could break the site or make it more difficult to support revisions.

• The structure (layout / sections) of the site have been established. New sub-sections would need to fall into one of the existing top-level sections (About, Getting started, etc). If a new section is required, it can be discussed on the forum or on Zulip chat

• Each top-level section is in its own directory that contains a sub-index (index.rst). The top-level section and the sub-index combines to form the menu structure seen on the left side of the web page and index in the other forms (epub, pdf).

• Level 1 sections (Drawing Setup, Blocks, ...) are contained in a single restructuredtext file (.rst). These are linked to the index.rst file. Each file contains:

  • a label identifying the version of LibreCAD (.. User Manual, LibreCAD v2.2.x)
  • a section heading underlined with equal signs (====). Note: There can be only one Level 1 section heading per file and it needs to be at the top of the file.
  • a label preceeding the section heading (..section-name:)

• Level 2 sub-sections (Scale, Attributes, ... under Drawing Setup) are underlined with dashes (-----). These also appear in the menu structure.

  • a label preceeding the sub-section heading (..section-name:)

• Level 3 sub-sections (Architect’s Scale (SI), ... under Scale) are underlined with tildes (~~~~~). These are the bottom level of the menu structure.

• Level 4 sub-sections are underlined with grave accent (``````). These do not appear in the menu structure.

• If additioanl sub-sections are required, underlined with caret (^^^^^), plus (+++++) and then hash (#####). These do not appear in the menu structure.

• Screen captures are created from a default install of LibreCAD to maintain consistency as that is what everyone will start with

  • A full screen capture is from a screen size of 1280x960
  • images are pngs
  • all images go in the "images" folder

• Tables are typically formed using the "csv" method. Complex tables are formed using the gridline method (tedious at best, but more flexible - and problematic).

• Menu paths are shown in bold and levels are separated with -> (dash + greater than sign), eg. File -> New.

• Links within the text can be included to navigate the manual:

  • Internal links can be embedded in the text, e.g. :ref:`User Guide <guides>`
  • External links should show the complete URL following the text, e.g. `librecad.org <http://librecad.org>`_

NOTE: DO NOT ALTER EXISTING Level 1 or Level 2 SECTION NAMES or LABELS as these are used to create menu items or internal links. Deviating from the standards may break things!!!

See the Resources page for more information and links.