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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-05-04 11:31:33 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-05-04 11:31:33 +0000
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+Narrative documentation in Sphinx
+=================================
+
+Structuring your documentation across multiple pages
+----------------------------------------------------
+
+The file ``index.rst`` created by ``sphinx-quickstart`` is the :term:`root
+document`, whose main function is to serve as a welcome page and to contain the
+root of the "table of contents tree" (or *toctree*). Sphinx allows you to
+assemble a project from different files, which is helpful when the project
+grows.
+
+As an example, create a new file ``docs/source/usage.rst`` (next to
+``index.rst``) with these contents:
+
+.. code-block:: rst
+ :caption: docs/source/usage.rst
+
+ Usage
+ =====
+
+ Installation
+ ------------
+
+ To use Lumache, first install it using pip:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ (.venv) $ pip install lumache
+
+This new file contains two :ref:`section <rst-sections>` headers, normal
+paragraph text, and a :rst:dir:`code-block` directive that renders
+a block of content as source code, with appropriate syntax highlighting
+(in this case, generic ``console`` text).
+
+The structure of the document is determined by the succession of heading
+styles, which means that, by using ``---`` for the "Installation" section
+after ``===`` for the "Usage" section, you have declared "Installation" to
+be a *subsection* of "Usage".
+
+To complete the process, add a ``toctree`` :ref:`directive <rst-directives>` at
+the end of ``index.rst`` including the document you just created, as follows:
+
+.. code-block:: rst
+ :caption: docs/source/index.rst
+
+ Contents
+ --------
+
+ .. toctree::
+
+ usage
+
+This step inserts that document in the root of the *toctree*, so now it belongs
+to the structure of your project, which so far looks like this:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+ index
+ └── usage
+
+If you build the HTML documentation running ``make html``, you will see
+that the ``toctree`` gets rendered as a list of hyperlinks, and this allows you
+to navigate to the new page you just created. Neat!
+
+.. warning::
+
+ Documents outside a *toctree* will result in ``WARNING: document isn't
+ included in any toctree`` messages during the build process, and will be
+ unreachable for users.
+
+Adding cross-references
+-----------------------
+
+One powerful feature of Sphinx is the ability to seamlessly add
+:ref:`cross-references <xref-syntax>` to specific parts of the documentation:
+a document, a section, a figure, a code object, etc. This tutorial is full of
+them!
+
+To add a cross-reference, write this sentence right after the
+introduction paragraph in ``index.rst``:
+
+.. code-block:: rst
+ :caption: docs/source/index.rst
+
+ Check out the :doc:`usage` section for further information.
+
+The :rst:role:`doc` :ref:`role <rst-roles-alt>` you used automatically
+references a specific document in the project, in this case the ``usage.rst``
+you created earlier.
+
+Alternatively, you can also add a cross-reference to an arbitrary part of the
+project. For that, you need to use the :rst:role:`ref` role, and add an
+explicit *label* that acts as :duref:`a target <hyperlink-targets>`.
+
+For example, to reference the "Installation" subsection, add a label right
+before the heading, as follows:
+
+.. code-block:: rst
+ :caption: docs/source/usage.rst
+ :emphasize-lines: 4
+
+ Usage
+ =====
+
+ .. _installation:
+
+ Installation
+ ------------
+
+ ...
+
+And make the sentence you added in ``index.rst`` look like this:
+
+.. code-block:: rst
+ :caption: docs/source/index.rst
+
+ Check out the :doc:`usage` section for further information, including how to
+ :ref:`install <installation>` the project.
+
+Notice a trick here: the ``install`` part specifies how the link will look like
+(we want it to be a specific word, so the sentence makes sense), whereas the
+``<installation>`` part refers to the actual label we want to add a
+cross-reference to. If you do not include an explicit title, hence using
+``:ref:`installation```, the section title will be used (in this case,
+``Installation``). Both the ``:doc:`` and the ``:ref:`` roles will be rendered
+as hyperlinks in the HTML documentation.
+
+What about :doc:`documenting code objects in Sphinx </tutorial/describing-code>`?
+Read on!