Now you have a working demo and the theme pack installation ready. Before submitting the theme to be sold, or giving the theme to the final user/customer, it is good practice to send a detailed documentation along with the theme.
The documentation must contain all the instructions to install the theme, the code for the static blocks, and an FAQ section. The documentation is very important and needs to be well written and organized to increase the chances for the theme to be accepted by marketplaces such as ThemeForest. In fact, if the documentation is not good or the theme is not well documented, there are a lot of possibilities of it being rejected.
It is recommended that the designer have an editor or a copyeditor proofread the theme’s documentation for a polished, professional end result. Most coders and designers aren’t perfect writers, so getting an extra pair of eyes to make sure all the commas and apostrophes are in place would be a good idea.
If the documentation is accurate and detailed, you will receive less support requests from the users, and the users will be happy to find all the instructions along with the theme.
To create good documentation and make sure the help documentation is in a file format readable by all operating systems and devices, you can create a PDF, HTML, and TXT file that are preferred, say, .docx.
To speed up this process, you can use a preset HTML template that will help you write an organized file.
Let us discuss the two different theme documentation files that you can use.
1. A simple example of the ThemeForest documentation
In ThemeForest, you can find the following useful HTML template at http://themeforest.s3.amazonaws.com/108_helpFile/Template.zip.
You only need to open and edit all the information of your theme.
2. The Documenter tool
Documenter is a great tool to generate custom documentation files with the capability of customizing the template and many other features. You can find the tool at http://revaxarts-themes.com/documenter/ and the following is a screenshot of what the Documenter page looks like:
Insert all the theme information, as shown in the following screenshot, along with the full documentation on how to install the theme and all the features that are included in the theme:
By setting up some options, you can create your own style. For example, you can create a custom documentation with the color scheme of the theme: orange, black, and white. The final result is shown in the following screenshot:
3. Some tips to write better documentation
After you download the source files, you can open and edit them as you want by adding the section of your choice. The documentation needs to be clear and easy to navigate. You can create a well-organized file by dividing it into the following sections:
- Start
- Introduction
- Installing the theme
- The theme options panel
- Importing static CMS blocks
- Editing or restoring CMS blocks
- Configuring the home page
- Configuring the products in the home page
- Editing the theme
- Updating the Theme
- Support
- Change log
- Credits
Source: Sacca Andrea (2014), Mastering Magento theme design, Packt Publishing; Illustrated edition.