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Python 3.8.6 is the sixth maintenance release of Python 3.8. Go get it here: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-386/   Maintenance releases for the 3.8 series will continue at regular bi-monthly intervals, with 3.8.7 planned for mid-November 2020. What’s new? The Python 3.8 series is the newest feature release of the Python language, and it contains many new features and optimizations. See the “What’s New in Python 3.8” document for more information about features included in the 3.8 series. Python 3.8 is becoming more stable. Our bugfix releases are becoming smaller as we progress. This one contains 122 changes, less than two thirds of the previous average for a new release. Detailed information about all changes made in version 3.8.6 specifically can be found in its change log. Note that compared to 3.8.5 this release also contains all changes present in 3.8.6rc1. We hope you enjoy Python 3.8! Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development and these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by volunteering yourself or through organization contributions to the Python Software Foundation. Your friendly release team, Ned Deily @nad Steve Dower @steve.dower Łukasz Langa @ambv

September 2020 gateway release

Microsoft R Open 4.0.2 has been released, combining the latest R language engine with multi-processor performance and tools for managing R packages reproducibly. You can download Microsoft R Open 4.0.2 for Windows,and Linux from MRAN now. Microsoft R Open is 100% compatible with all R version 4 scripts and packages, and works with all your favorite R interfaces and development environments. This update brings R version 4 to Microsoft R Open for the first time. This update includes many new features for the R language and system, along with improved performance and memory usage. Note that you will need to install any R packages you wish to use with MRO 4.0.2. By default, MRO installs packages from a static CRAN snapshot taken on July 16 2020. We hope you find Microsoft R Open useful, and if you have any comments or questions please visit the Microsoft R Open forum. You can follow the development of Microsoft R Open at the MRO GitHub repository. To download Microsoft R Open, simply follow the link below. MRAN: Download Microsoft R Open

The latest version of Schoolwork, the powerful iPad app for teachers and students that helps them keep track of assignments and student progress, is now available. Make sure your app takes advantage of the latest ClassKit features to provide a great user experience. With the new ClassKit Catalog API, you can declare contexts ahead of time instead of at runtime, include keywords, and support a large number of assignable activities. Teachers can browse your app’s activities in Schoolwork before running your app for the first time on their device. Available in beta, this REST API can be tested with Schoolwork 2.1. And on iPadOS 14, ClassKit supports rich new metadata properties to make your content more discoverable by teachers in Schoolwork. Learn more about the ClassKit Catalog API Download Schoolwork 2.1 beta

Yesterday was filled with announcements of new capabilities of Power BI Premium and even a per user licensing option to gain access to Premium features. This blog post sums those up so you can prepare for a much better experience of owning and using Power BI Premium.

Today’s announcement by Arun around the introduction of a Premium per user license option has generated a lot of interest and excitement in the Power BI community. It has also generated a lot of questions, so we’ve put together this blog post to answer some of the most common ones we’ve seen.

Neal Myrick Global Head of the Tableau Foundation Hannah Kuffner September 23, 2020 - 12:57am September 23, 2020 As COVID-19 has progressed, the need for organizations to be able to quickly access and analyze data has only increased. Tableau Foundation has worked with many of our partner organizations as they’ve navigated new challenges, from increased needs to constrained supply chains and limited resource-delivery options. The World Food Programme, one of our longtime partners, has made considerable investments over the past few years in data infrastructure. During COVID-19, those investments have proven critical in enabling them to respond to this global crisis. And during the pandemic, we made a new $1.6 million contribution to WFP so they could expand their data capacity and serve not just their own programs, but the entire humanitarian sector. WFP is the world’s largest hunger-focused humanitarian organization, and they knew immediately that the coronavirus would impact their work. “Our most recent analysis shows that a quarter of a billion people could very likely face severe hunger in 2020, due to job losses and loss of remittances in populations that are already vulnerable” says Enrica Porcari, WFP’s Chief Information Officer. Many of these communities depend on humanitarian support. With demand increasing so dramatically, WPF recognized there was a risk that existing programs might not be able to meet it. WFP, though, has found innovative solutions to step up its support for the entire humanitarian community to ensure communities have the support they need, even as the crisis evolves. A global response to a global pandemic What’s enabled WFP to keep two steps ahead of the pandemic is data. WFP operates in around 83 countries, and visibility into the conditions on the ground in each community they serve is essential. “When COVID-19 started, it was very difficult for us to have a sense of how big it was going to get,” says Pierre Guillaume Wielezynski, Digital Transformation Services Chief in WFP’s Technology department. But WFP’s investments in data and analytics infrastructure in recent years have set the organization up to remain responsive in times of uncertainty, when quick insights and decision-making are essential. “We’ve worked very closely with our colleagues across the organization to develop proven methods for tracking the impact of external events—from natural disasters to conflicts—on food security,” Wielezynski says. WFP was able to deploy that same data-driven methodology to rapidly assess the impacts of COVID-19. Rainfall and Markets data overlaid for Afghanistan in VAM’s DataViz A part of this data backbone is the Vulnerability Analysis and Monitoring (VAM) unit made up of a network of analysts around the world that collect up-to-date data on a variety of metrics that impact food security in a community. VAM oversees data spanning rainfall and vegetation conditions, conflict, hazards and even the world’s largest public market price database, to name a few. With over 100 active dashboards accessible through VAM’s DataViz, the network uses Tableau to communicate crucial information that can inform response. Powered by Tableau, VAM also compiles data on economic and social circumstances in a community that could affect food security, providing a snapshot of conditions on the ground. Staff can collate this data with near real-time operational updates from WFP’s robust supply chains, allowing them to anticipate disruptions resulting from the pandemic to ensure vulnerable families receive the support they need. WFP staff track hazards affecting food security using VAM’s DataViz powered by Tableau. Leading with data As the pandemic has progressed, this access to data has proven even more essential to the way WFP operates. “We’ve had to really rethink the way we do things if we can’t have boots on the ground in communities, and we’re facing huge challenges in the logistics of delivering resources to people,” Porcari says. WFP’s digital transformation over the last few years has brought data out of silos and made it broadly accessible across the organization to help make faster, better informed decisions. This has enabled WFP to remain nimble in how it responds to the demands of COVID-19. “In some cases, we’ve had to take a different approach to n how we assist people,” Wielezynski says. WFP serves some households by delivering essentials like corn, beans, wheat, and oil directly to them. But if the data is showing that the supply chain for these products has been disrupted by COVID-19, WFP can quickly switch to sending them direct cash assistance. Conversely, if a family typically receives cash but the pandemic has inflated local prices, WFP can send them food instead. For example, having access to this data has enabled WFP to rapidly expand its cash-based assistance in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, where the total number of retailers distributing in-kind assistance almost doubled to 1,300 across the regions. The switch has enabled the organization to scale up support for vulnerable families on the receiving end of the political and economic fallout of the pandemic. “All of these decisions need to be based on very sound data to justify the switch, but also to design the intervention correctly,” Wielezynski says. “If the market prices are affected and we want to continue giving cash, how much do we give? And how can we continuously monitor these trends?” WFP’s near-real-time insights into the economic conditions that impact food insecurity has enabled them continue supporting families through this crisis. Building a data resource for the humanitarian sector Language about supply chains and purchasing power can sometimes obscure the fact that these decisions can be a matter of life-or-death for people. That urgency has driven WFP’s investments in digital transformation both in terms of the data infrastructure and data culture of the organization. Porcari says what has made responding to COVID-19 possible is not having to start from scratch. “We have had the good fortune and foresight to invest in digital transformation over the last few years, so we have foundational platforms, services and skills that are already very strong. We have strong partnerships that allow us to develop and deploy at speed and scale.” WFP’s investments in data have even enabled them to build a new resource to support the entire humanitarian sector. The Emergency Service Marketplace is a “one stop shop for the global humanitarian community to access WFP’s supply chain services,” Porcari says. WFP manages an extensive logistics and supply chain network, spanning air, water, and land transportation. During COVID-19, they’ve been able to mobilize this network to support the UN and other humanitarian agencies. “Now they can make a quick, online request to have health and humanitarian cargo shipped to the most vulnerable parts of the world,” Porcari says. “It’s like e-commerce for humanitarians.” A view of the shipments made via the Emergency Service Marketplace Rapidly developed in response to the rising demand for assistance brought on by the pandemic, the Marketplace has supported 51 organizations since June, delivering enough humanitarian and health cargo to 265 countries to fill 19 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Because many planes and other transport services were halted, WFP’s tracking system became essential, with Tableau visualizations making it easy for other humanitarian organizations, including WHO, to see where their shipments were in real time and ensure that they made it to their destination. “It’s a very simple and functional dashboard,” Wielezynski says. “An organization like the UNHCR could use it to request a delivery of masks from China to Mozambique, and then we could optimize the delivery method and show them where the shipment is in transit through the dashboard. The data allows them to recalibrate or reprioritize on the fly, whereas before, they might’ve had to place 20 phone calls only to receive week-old information.” Staff can track in near real-time the status of their shipments using Tableau. In a crisis when coordination and timeliness is essential, WFP’s data investments have enabled them to improve the entire aid delivery system for its sector. “This is what you might expect from an Alibaba or from an Amazon, not the humanitarian sector,” Porcari says. “But that’s what our vision is: If Amazon can do it, so can we. We owe it to our donors and the people we serve.”

Photo by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash At Aquil.io, developing APIs and collaborating with clients walk hand in hand. Communication is essential in any consulting environment, and explaining information about a Feathers service is most effectively done with executable code, close to the metal. To control a test and increase the reliability of the result, it is important to remove as many moving parts as possible. We leverage this philosophy in all parts of our workflow. Postman is a tool that allows us to create predictable and consistent requests against APIs. It is a tool we regularly use in debugging APIs. To aid in collaboration with client development teams, we create a repository of requests in Postman, allowing us to then export and share requests in various formats, such as curl. For this article’s purposes, we assume a Feathers API is being developed. When looking to test or debug with Postman, be sure to configure the Feathers REST transport. Postman does not currently work with WebSockets. However, RESTful and WebSocket requests execute the same hooks and service methods due to the Feathers transport abstractions. Create the workspace Though requests can be created in the default workspace, in practice, this can become an unmaintainable list quickly. We create a workspace to group requests by project. Personal workspaces can always be converted to team workspaces later. There is an in-depth article on workspaces on the official Postman blog. Leveraging variables and environments APIs we develop fall into a few environments, depending on the project. Commonly, this is categorized as local, staging, and production. We run requests against different environments using the environment switcher. Within our requests, we use variables defined at the environment level and updated based on the environment we select. In most scenarios we use two variables, host and token. The request, in most cases, will require authentication. There are several options that authenticate a request with the service. The chosen authorization will modify the request with the appropriate headers or preflight calls. We use the Bearer Token option and apply the token for the request. We create a new environment in Postman named after the environment itself. We add a host variable and an authentication token variable, naming it token. We create environment representations and define the appropriate variables. Create collections and requests To us, collections are synonymous with Feathers resources. Treating a collection as a representation of a resource allows for an intuitive grouping of requests. We create a collection named after the Feathers resource. We select Bearer Token on the Authorization tab and apply the token variable to the Token field. We create a request within the appropriate collection, using the environment variables to build the final request. Each request we create uses the host token from the chosen environment and, for authentication, we select Inherit auth from parent. This will carry over settings for authorization from the parent collection. A request setup in this way allows us to run a request on any environment by changing the environment and sending the request. Naming the request is valuable for communicating intent. We consider the verb in our naming convention so it reads like plain English. Feathers closely ties service objects to HTTP verbs. This connection makes the title valuable in identifying and finding a request within a list of requests. Feathers conventions such as: becomes: Sharing requests When our team needs to collaborate on an endpoint, such as for debugging, Postman can easily export a curl request. A curl request is a simple and easily shared representation of the request. We prefer curl requests over alternatives such as sharing UI walkthroughs. Browser configuration, like caching or plugins, might interfere with the request. A UI application will accept a request’s response and derive an interface based on the data. The interface is not a one-to-one relation to the data. Collaborating around a curl request removes variability. Conclusion It is important to note that using Postman does not replace the need for tests. We borrow much of our testing philosophy from the testing pyramid and use Postman in tandem to accelerate our development process. Requests in Postman will execute hooks, middleware, service objects, and data stores. Postman effectively acts as an ad hoc integration test. At Aquil.io, we implement a deterministic strategy for processes. We look for efficient and straightforward solutions. When we integrate a tool into our workflow, we expect the tool to complement our strategy and improve productivity. Additionally, communication is a vital part of our strategy. Postman enables short feedback loops and communicates dense information succinctly making it an essential tool to our development process. Originally published at https://aquil.io on September 16, 2020. If you want to check out what I’m working on or have web development needs, visit Aquil.io. How we debug Feathers APIs using Postman was originally published in DailyJS on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The way we work is changing dramatically. It’s more connected, collaborative, and often done remotely. Organizations need tools to help everyone infuse data into every decision. We’re excited to announce new Power BI integrations for Microsoft Teams to make it easier to discover and use data within your organization.  

During this new Microsoft Ignite format, with 48 hours of hours of digital sessions and interactions where thousands of IT professionals will come together, we have several exciting innovations to announce that will help customers drive clarity when they need it most.

Articles Guidelines to improve your React folder structure In this article, Max Rosen starts of by showing you his typical folder structure, then teaches you his guiding principles to create the folder structure that “feels right,” at least for his purposes. How to make your react-native project work for the web React-native-web should (in theory) allow you to build on both mobile and web platforms — all within a single codebase. In this article, Clint walks through building a very basic app and the tips and tricks he learned along the way to help it perform at high level without being too buggy. Why Next.js my ultimate choice over Gatsby, Gridsome, and Nuxt? In this article, Ondrej walks through his process for evaluating each of these technologies and why he ultimately chose to go with Next.js. Tutorials Building complex animations with React and Framer Motion This tutorial walks you through how to create smooth, advanced animations in React with clean and minimal declarative code. Building React Apps With Storybook In this in-depth tutorial, you’ll learn how to build and test react components in isolation using Storybook. You will also learn how to use the knobs add-on to modify data directly from the storybook explorer. Sponsor React developers are in demand on Vettery Vettery is an online hiring marketplace that’s changing the way people hire and get hired. Ready for a bold career move? Make a free profile, name your salary, and connect with hiring managers from top employers today. Get started today. Projects SurveyJS A JavaScript survey and form library that also features a React version. react-range Range input with a slider. It’s accessible and lets you bring your own styles and markup. react-xr React components and hooks for creating VR/AR applications with react-three-fiber. Videos How To Build CodePen With React In this 30-minute video, you’ll learn how to create a simple clone of the core functionality of CodePen using React. Building a Netflix clone with React, Styled Components, and Firebase This 10-hour video (😱) walks you through all the steps of building a React clone from scratch.

Geraldine Zanolli Developer Evangelist Spencer Czapiewski September 18, 2020 - 10:15pm September 21, 2020 At Tableau, we believe that our customers need analytics in their workflows, and Salesforce customers are no exception. While there are existing ways for our customers to embed Tableau content inside Salesforce, the new Tableau Viz Lightning web component makes it easy to integrate Tableau visualizations into Salesforce in just a few clicks. Today, we are excited to release the Tableau Viz Lightning web component, available now on Salesforce AppExchange. By using it, any Salesforce admin or developer can integrate any Tableau dashboard into a Salesforce Lightning page. You may have already seen the component used in Work.com, Salesforce’s offering of advisory services and technology solutions to help companies and communities safely reopen in the COVID-19 environment. The Work.com team used the Tableau Viz Lightning web component to add the Global COVID-19 Tracker dashboard to the Workplace Command Center, a single source of truth that gives organizations a 360-degree view of return-to-work readiness across all of their locations, employees, and visitors. “Surfacing Tableau dashboards in the Command Center illustrates the power and convenience of the ‘single pane of glass,’” Xander Mitman, Director of Product Management at Salesforce shared. “Best of all, if customers want to add more Tableau dashboards—either public or proprietary—it only takes a few clicks to make those changes. The Tableau Viz Lightning web component makes it fast and easy for business technology teams to take an agile approach to figure out what makes end users most efficient and productive.” The Work.com team used the Tableau Viz Lightning web component to add the Global COVID-19 Tracker dashboard Easy embedding for Salesforce Any Salesforce user can visit AppExchange and install the Tableau Viz Lightning web component in their org. With three clicks, the Lightning web component is ready to be used in Salesforce. Then, Salesforce admins can drag and drop the Lightning web component on a page. Users will need to get the URL of the visualization they want to embed from Tableau Online, Server, or Public, and then customize the look and feel by adjusting the height or showing the Tableau toolbar. Furthermore, to keep users in their workflow, two filtering options are available on Record Pages (such as an Account or Opportunity page): Context filtering allows users to filter the visualization based on the record they are on at the moment. Advanced filtering lets users define their own filter based on the visualization they are embedding and the information on the page. To learn more about how to configure the Tableau Viz Lightning web component, check out Embed Tableau Views in Salesforce in Help. In the same spirit of making the user experience easier, we also released new help articles on setting up single sign-on (SSO) for the Tableau Viz Lightning web component, which currently supports SAML. For our fully native and deeply integrated analytics solution for Salesforce, check out Einstein Analytics. Developers, build your own solution on top of the Tableau Viz Lightning web component Each deployment of Tableau + Salesforce is different—different content, consumers, use cases, etc. We recognize that the Tableau Viz Lightning web component isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, and that is why you can access the full Lightning web component as an open-source project. Developers can build on top of our Tableau Viz Lightning web component by embedding it in their own Lightning web component. One advantage of using composition to build a component is that developers can benefit from the improvements we make to the Tableau Viz Lightning web component without having to change their code. We released the Tableau Viz Lightning web component with one sample code available on GitHub—look for more coming soon. Install the Tableau Viz Lightning web component from AppExchange to get Tableau inside Salesforce today!

Keri Harling Senior Copywriter; Tableau Software Hannah Kuffner September 18, 2020 - 7:32pm September 18, 2020 Data skills are important now more than ever. Whether you just started at your university or are finishing up your final year, there’s always something new to learn. Students are eligible to receive free Tableau licenses, eLearning, and 20% off Tableau Desktop Specialist Certification through Tableau Academic Programs. To help set students up for success, we sat down with two amazing women on different data journeys to hear their advice on preparing for the Tableau Certification exam with a step-by-step guide. Spoiler: you’ll crush it. Bergen Schmetzer, Tableau Academic Programs: I’ve been at Tableau for four years, and have found my happy place on the Tableau Academic team. I was introduced to Tableau in my junior year of college, and it truly changed the way I look at data and analytics. The best advice I can give to students looking to start their analytics journey is just to take that first step. If you are feeling some sense of fear—that’s GOOD! You are beginning something new and unfamiliar, and that’s excitingly scary. Leveling up your skills, especially in data analytics, doesn’t happen overnight. What I love about Tableau is the focus on supporting and elevating the people in our Community. Our goal is to provide people with the resources and skills to empower themselves. Plus, we are passionate about celebrating the success of like-minded data rockstars. Kelly Nesenblatt, Student: I’m a senior at the University of Arizona and preparing to enter the workforce out of college. I saw a huge need for data skills at the companies I was interested in but didn’t know where to start. I knew Tableau’s Academic Programs offer Tableau Desktop, Prep, and eLearning for free to students, and I recently found out about the Desktop Specialist Certification discount. Not only was this an opportunity to add a certification to my resume, but it was also a great reason to strengthen my data skills. If I had one piece of advice to share—be confident in what you know. If you have prepared and are comfortable with the platform, the Specialist exam will greatly benefit you. Since passing the Specialist exam, my goal is to complete the Associate and Professional levels next. Steps to pass the Certification Exam: 1. Join Tableau for Students or Tableau for Teaching Program We’ve helped over one million students and instructors find empowerment in Tableau. Students and instructors can receive free licenses and eLearning through our Academic Programs. 2. Schedule your exam It may sound crazy but schedule your exam first. It's counter-intuitive, but setting a deadline for yourself will drive you to study. After you’ve been verified as a student, you will receive a 20% discount off the Tableau Certification Exam. The discount applies automatically during checkout. Your exam will be valid for six months after your purchase date, and you can reschedule anytime but no later than 24 hours before the exam start time. 3. Download Tableau Desktop, access free eLearning You’ve activated your Tableau license, scheduled your exam, and now it's time to study. eLearning is one of the best places to begin preparing for your exam. We recommend starting with Desktop I to get familiar with the terminology and basics of Tableau. Completing Desktop I takes around 10 hours, but since it’s self-paced, you can go at whatever speed is comfortable for you. We don’t mind waiting for greatness. 4. Practice makes perfect We have a TON of support materials outside of eLearning to help prepare you for the exam. See below for some of our favorite go-to study resources. Training videos—we have hundreds of videos ranging from quick tips to deep dives in Tableau. Tableau for Student Guide—Maria Brock, a Tableau Student Ambassador, put together an entire website dedicated to students looking to learn about Tableau. She spoils us! 5. Get inspired by the Tableau Community The Tableau Community is a group of brilliant Tableau cheerleaders. They love seeing people find the magic within Tableau, and are an amazing support system. You can get to know our Community in several ways: Read how other students use Tableau or hear from Tableau interns through our Generation Data blog series. Looking for specific answers? Our Student Ambassadors are Tableau Champions at their university and assist other students in their Tableau journey. Connect to the people and information you need most. Our global Community— Tableau Community Forums—actively answers your questions—from dashboard designs to tips and tricks, we’re here to help. Check out Tableau Public to see some incredible vizzes from members of the Community. 6. Day of Exam It’s normal to have day-of-exam jitters, but if you’ve leveraged some of the resources we’ve shared in this blog, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Double-check your systems are set up and ready for the exam, choose an environment with a reliable internet connection, and make sure you will be undisturbed throughout the exam period. The exam is timed, so it’s important to remember you can always flag questions if you get stuck and come back to them later. Don’t let one tricky question play mind games with you and make you lose confidence—you’ve got this. 7. You’ve leveled UP! Celebrate your certification. If you passed, it's time to show it off. Share your well-deserved badge on social media and use the hashtag #CertifiablyTableau. Certifications are an identifiable way to demonstrate your data know-how and willingness to invest in your future. Having this certification under your belt will make you stand out amongst your peers to future employers. If you didn't pass the exam the first time—don't get discouraged. It happens to the best of us. The second time's a charm'. Join our Tableau for Students program to get started today and receive 20% off the Tableau Desktop Specialist exam.

We have been humbled by the amazing response to our recent launch of Win-KeX. After its initial release, we asked ourselves if that is truly the limit of what we can achieve or could we pull off something incredible to mark the 25th anniversary of Hackers? What about “a second concurrent session as root”, “seamless desktop integration with Windows”, or – dare we dream – “sound”? With no further further ado, we are thrilled to present to you Win-KeX v2.0 with the following features: Win-KeX SL (Seamless Edition) – bye bye borders Sound support Multi-session support KeX sessions can be run as root Able to launch “kex” from anywhere – no more cd-ing into the Kali filesystem required Shared clipboard – cut and paste content between Kali and Windows apps The installation of Win-KeX is as easy as always: sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt install -y kali-win-kex (in a Kali WSL installation) Win-KeX now supports two dedicated modes: Win-KeX Window mode is the classic Win-KeX look and feel with one dedicated window for the Kali Linux desktop. To launch Win-KeX in Window mode with sound support, type: kex --win -s Win-KeX SL mode provides a seamless integration of Kali Linux into the Windows desktop with the Windows Start menu at the bottom and the Kali panel at the top of the screen. All applications are launched in their own windows sharing the same desktop as Windows applications. kex --sl --s To enable sound: Start Win-KeX with the --sound or -s command line parameter. We’ve been watching Blu-rays in Win-KeX SL without problems. Why you ask? Because – now we can ;-) Win-KeX now supports concurrent sessions Win-KeX as unprivileged user Win-KeX as root user Win-KeX SL Windows Firewall Both SL mode and sound support require access through the Windows Defender firewall. When prompted, tick “Public networks”. You can later go to the firewall settings and restrict the scope to the WSL network (usually 172.3x.xxx.0/20) Manpage Forgotten that lifesaving parameter? Try: kex --help for a quick overview, or consult the manual page for a detailed manual: man kex Big shout-out to the authors of the following components without which there would be no Win-KeX: Win-KeX Win is brought to you by TigerVNC Win-KeX SL utilizes VcXsr Windows X Server Sound support is achieved through the integration of PulseAudio. Further Information: More information can be found on our documentation site. We hope you enjoy Win-KeX as much as we do and we’d love to see you around in the Kali Forums

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash If you have visited the docs at angular.io lately, you might have noticed some changes in our content layout and structure. As the lead technical writer for Angular, I thought I’d take a moment to cover some of the main goals we have for making the Angular documentation experience the best experience possible. Focus on developers new to Angular A common pitfall for many documentation sets is that they address too many audiences at once. This practice results in content that is verbose, difficult to navigate, and frustrating to read. For Angular, it’s important that we focus on a single audience at a time, because we want to make sure to tell the right stories clearly and concisely. Right now, that means our documentation efforts focus on developers new to Angular. Since I joined the Angular team, I’ve heard a recurring theme: “Angular has a steep learning curve.” “The Angular documentation is overwhelming.” As someone new to Angular, I find myself agreeing with these sentiments. That’s why, for the next several months, we’re focusing on making the getting started experience the best experience possible. Some of the changes we’re making include: Revamping the table of contents (the lists of topics in the left navigation) to help users understand what main concepts of Angular they should understand, and what topics can wait until they want to expand their applications further. Categorizing topics into three topic types: Concepts, Tasks, and Tutorials. It’s important for any reader — whether they are new to Angular or not! — to know what kind of content they’re reading and whether it’s what they’re looking for. No one likes looking for how to get something done only to find themselves 3 paragraphs into a tutorial. Streamlining existing content. When I write, I imagine that I’m tutoring a friend who has a plane to catch in 5 minutes. This image helps me focus on content that is casual in tone, but also concise and to the point. Applying this idea to Angular documentation will help users find the information they need and get back to code. Help users get things done Developers need documentation for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes you need a basic walkthrough of the technology. Other times, you need a real-world tutorial that addresses a problem that you’re facing. Like focusing on a specific audience, a good documentation set focuses on one of these reasons at a time. For Angular, we’re focused on writing content that helps users get things done. When you navigate to the Angular documentation, we want you to find the information you need to complete a task or understand a feature, and then we want you to be able to get back to writing great code. To accomplish this goal, we’re going through all of the topics to make sure they clearly state what they cover and why that’s important. You should know right away if you’re reading the content you need. And if you’re not? We’re working on providing links to other topics that might be more helpful. Of course, there’s always a place for more conceptual content. And there’s a lot of great value in developing a deep understanding of how something works. I’m sure we’ll focus on improving our conceptual content at some point in the future. For the time being, however, we want to make sure that you can find the help you need quickly and easily. Improve, but don’t break As we mentioned earlier, many within the Angular community find the current documentation overwhelming. At the same time, we’ve also heard that the documentation remains one of the best places to learn how to build with Angular. That’s why one of the other key goals that we’re focusing on is to improve the documentation without breaking it. As we write new content or improve existing content, we try to make sure that the existing documentation remains intact. There are always going to be times where we might fall short on this goal. When that happens, please let us know by filing a GitHub issue so we can investigate. Conclusion We think that focusing on new Angular developers, writing content that helps you get things done, and making sure we improve the documentation without breaking it, will result in a better documentation experience for everyone. Of course, this is just the beginning. For example, as we wrap up content for new developers, we’ll start looking at other audiences, such as those of you working on enterprise-level applications. I can’t express how grateful I am to work on a product that has such a passionate, supportive community, and I look forward to working with all of you to make the Angular documentation the best experience possible. In the meantime, continue to check out the docs and don’t hesitate to let us know what you think! Angular Thoughts on Docs was originally published in Angular Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.