Mozilla Launches Open Web Docs Platform for Documenting Web Standards

Mozilla and several other companies have started a project to write documentation for APIs and web platforms. Open Web Docs is intended to complement the Mozilla Developer Network, which had fewer volunteers and participants since last year.

Mozilla is the driving force behind the Open Collective, although the project also receives funding from tech companies such as Google and Microsoft. Open Web Docs, according to Mozilla, is intended as a platform to document open web standards for the longer term. Through the project, volunteers and employees write documentation for standards or APIs, including non-Mozilla software. In addition, the project will help establish and manage online communities, and streamline processes to complete documentation.

The collective has set several goals for the coming year. Four people should be employed by the project in 2021, but a long-term strategy has also yet to be drawn up. Mozilla says the platform exists independently of specific companies or organizations.

The idea behind the project is not entirely new. Open Web Docs now co-exists with MDN Web Docs, another Mozilla project where web API developers always made their documentation public. Mozilla fired 250 employees last year to focus more on paid services. Many of those employees were working on MDN Web Docs, which left a gap in that project after the major layoff. Open Web Docs is an attempt to fill that gap.