Stack Overflow starts with ‘Documentation’ channel

Stack Overflow has taken a new way of documenting out of closed beta. The service is called ‘Documentation’. Documentation is broader than the normal question-and-answer topics and examples predominate.

Users of Stack Overflow Documentation can vote for the quality of samples and add samples and documentation of their own. The structure of Documentation consists of examples, parameters, syntax and comments. The documentation is grouped by tags, as is the question-and-answer section.

In addition to voting and adding your own content, it is also possible to comment and provide feedback on existing topics or examples. Unlike the question section that Stack Overflow has become familiar with among developers, Documentation is broad in scope and intended as a general reference work that does not address specific problems, but rather entire collections of problems.

A list of versions is also maintained in the first topic of a tag. Those versions can be added to entire topics, as well as to individual sections within a tag’s documentation. Stack Overflow has also added a way to ensure that there are no broken links within topics. Each link is timestamped so that older versions can always be found.

Stack Overflow already says it has partnered with Microsoft, PayPal, Dropbox, Xamarin, Twilio, PubNub, Twitch and Meteor to set up documentation, along with the Stack Overflow community. The main help the companies now give seems to be in improving or reviewing community-created documentation.

Stack Overflow will be awarding ‘Documentation Pioneer Badges’ to contributors over the next four weeks and the opportunity to win one of 100 Stack Overflow T-shirts.