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Concept topic

A concept provides an overview and background information to help end users understand a product, interface, or task. Concepts answer the question “what is it?”. Readers learn about features through concepts.

The following types of content can be included in concepts:

  • Detailed overviews of features with benefits and clearly defined terms
  • Diagrams that help users understand the components of a system
  • Process flow diagrams
  • Best practice guidelines
  • An example of how a feature is used Examples might include screenshots or other supporting visuals

A concept topic doesn’t include:

  • Step-by-step instructions
  • Reference information, such as lookup tables or lists of values

Concept topic structure

A concept topic includes the following elements:

  • Topic title: Topic titles should be nouns, for example, Grafana panels. By using this naming convention, readers are able to distinguish between conceptual topics and tasks that begin with verbs.
  • Introduction: Include an introduction that explains what this topic is about.
  • Body: Provide as much content as needed to explain the concept thoroughly. There can be sections, visuals, and text in the body of a concept.
Annotated example of a concept page's structure

Write a concept topic

To write a concept topic, follow these steps.

  1. Determine where you want to add concept documentation to the Grafana Labs product documentation.

  2. Within the top-level entity, create a parent directory with the following naming convention:

    • Use a noun
    • Use lowercase letters
    • Add a hyphen between words
  3. Within the parent directory, create an _index.md file.

  4. Add front matter to the _index.md file.

    For more information about front matter, refer to Front matter.

  5. Add the content to a copy of the Concept template.

    For more information about the kinds of content you can add to a concept topic, refer to Concept topic.

Concept topic examples

Refer to the following topics for concept topic examples:

Concept template

When you are ready to write, make a copy of the Concept template and add your content.