Documentation Improvements: Improve Developer Onboarding and Accessibility

[jbarnes850]

Description:

Proposing a revision of our NEAR Intents documentation to enhance its accessibility, improve developer onboarding, and provide a clear, structured, and interactive guide for new and existing developers. This revision aims to help developers understand the core concepts, get up to speed quickly, and ultimately integrate with intents more effectively.

Ideal State:

Our goal is to transform the current documentation into a clear, structured, and comprehensive resource that empowers developers to quickly understand and integrate with NEAR Intents. We envision a docs site that includes a dedicated "Getting Started" guide, a consistent glossary, detailed API references with annotated examples, and accessible diagrams with clear alt text. We want to make it straightforward for developers to bootstrap projects, troubleshoot issues, and fully leverage the capabilities of NEAR Intents.

Context:

• Our documentation currently spans several files (e.g., README.md, architecture docs, SDK guides, FAQs, and API references) and is closely tied to our codebase.
• Key topics such as Intent Settlement, Solver Bus, Verifier, and the APIs (e.g., publish_intent, get_status) are present but somewhat scattered and complex.
• We have several associated repositories including:
  • NEAR Intents App
  • AMM Solver
  • Defuse Frontend
  • Python Client
  • NEAR Intents Example
• This current state makes it difficult for new developers to quickly bootstrap and understand the system.

Problems Identified:

• Navigation & Structure:
  The existing table of contents and navigation can be confusing. There’s no clear "Getting Started" section, and the key sections are not immediately apparent.

• Content Gaps:
  Important areas like high-level architectural overviews, glossary/terminology, and detailed API usage guides are either missing or dispersed.

• Developer Onboarding:
  There’s a lack of step-by-step guidance on setting up the development environment, understanding the core system flows, and accessing practical code examples.

• Accessibility & Design:
  While technical details are present, areas like diagram accessibility (alt text and captions) and interactive examples are lacking. We need to align the design standards for clarity and usability.

Proposed Improvements:

1. Restructure the Documentation:

   • Create a dedicated "Getting Started / Quick Start" section that walks developers through setting up a demo integration.
   • Revise the sidebar/table of contents to clearly define sections such as:
     • Overview
     • Developer Guides (Tutorials, API Reference, FAQ)
     • Concepts & Terminology
     • Examples
     • Contributing

2. Enhance the Content:

   • Update the Overview page to include a concise elevator pitch and a simple diagram showing the intent flow.
   • Develop a Glossary/Terminology page to define key terms like Intent Settlement, Solver Bus, and Verifier.
   • Expand the API Reference with detailed, annotated examples of API calls (publish_intent, get_status, etc.), including a breakdown of parameters and expected responses.

3. Improve Developer Tutorials and Examples:

   • Write detailed tutorials for common use cases such as publishing an intent or handling quote responses, incorporating annotated code examples.
   • Directly link and embed relevant code samples from our associated repositories, ensuring that code examples in Python, TypeScript, and JavaScript are current and clear.

4. Focus on Accessibility & Readability:

   • Add descriptive alt text and captions for all diagrams and images.
   • Where possible, integrate interactive elements (e.g., code sandboxes) to allow developers to experiment with examples.
   • Rework the overall design to follow established guidelines from Google and Apple, ensuring clarity, responsiveness, and a clean layout.

5. Implementation Roadmap:

   • Phase 1: Finalize Navigation & Structure (Feb 6th - Feb 7th)
     • Complete the new table-of-contents and navigation structure.
   • Phase 2: Content Rewriting & Reorganization (Feb 7th - Feb 9th)
     • Rewrite and reorganize existing documentation (Overview, API Reference, Glossary, FAQs) and create new content for the Getting Started and Tutorials sections.
   • Phase 3: Internal Review & PR Submission (Feb 10th)
     • Submit the PR on our forked branch to kick off internal review.
   • Phase 4: Feedback Integration & Merge
     • Post-review, integrate any feedback and merge final changes, updating links and references across all documentation.

Next Steps:

I'm opening this issue to provide full visibility of the planned documentation revisions and to gather any additional feedback from the DeFuse team. Once approved, I will create a PR detailing these changes.

Please review the attached plan and let me know if there are any suggestions or modifications.