[Request]: Export the documentation to PDF

[ajsb85]

What is this request related to?

Request

📋 Suggested

I propose adding an "Export to PDF" button or option to all documentation pages on the SolidJS website. This feature would allow users to easily download a neatly formatted PDF version of any page for offline reading, reference, or sharing.

📋 General description or bullet points

Benefits:

• Enhanced Offline Accessibility: Users could access the documentation without an internet connection.
• Improved Readability: PDFs often offer a more focused reading experience than web pages.
• Easy Sharing: PDFs are a standard format for sharing documents.

Technical Considerations:

• Implementation: This could be achieved using a library like jsPDF or a backend service that generates PDFs.
• Styling: Ensure the generated PDF matches the look and feel of the website.
• Placement: Consider where the "Export to PDF" button would be most intuitive for users.

Additional Considerations:

• Accessibility: Ensure the PDF export adheres to accessibility standards.
• Customization: Potentially allow users to customize the PDF output (e.g., page size, font).

This feature would be a valuable addition to the SolidJS documentation, enhancing its usability and accessibility for a wider range of users.

🖥️ Reproduction of code samples in StackBlitz

No response

[atilafassina]

Hello, @ajsb85

This does sound like an interesting suggestion. It would address the offline support story. But a PDF opens up a second problem that we have been bitten in the past and I'd be reluctant to accept again: people using outdated documentation.

The PDF is a snapshot of that point in time, and documentation evolves a lot - not only through API breaking changes, but we're also constantly learning on how to improve the education experience. Not to say that, as you mentioned, it opens a bunch of extra challenges (figuring out a11y for PDFs, allowing some customization and print stylesheets, caching the artifact so we don't create cost for ourselves by processing all the 300 entries of the doc every time someone asks for the PDF. Etc.

So, as a built-in solution for offline support, I'd say that a PDF export is a no-go for us. Of course we welcome you to build it externally and if you need any support from us, let us know on discord.

In another issue, I'm opened to discussing how a service worker implementation would work to provide the offline support on the website itself - in case you feel like working on it yourself. I must say that, at the moment, we have all our energy focused in bulking up the content of our docs - with more thorough API references and Guides on how to solve common problems in Solid / SolidStart.

Cheers 🩵