Ask HN: Read the Docs Like a Book?

5 points·p0d··4 comments

I think I have wasted too much time trying to get readthedocs epub files to work on my kindle. I have also found android epub apps slow or limited. How do you read the docs?

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I actually don't think reading the docs like a book is efficient. I would just forget what I read, especially for those long detailed documents. I think it's better for me to locate the specific topic in the doc when I need it. I've always used Google Play Books as my epub reader in my Android devices (since it came pre-loaded in my first device) and I thinks it's pretty sufficient. I also use Apple Books in my ipad well, because it was the default one. :D And it's enough for me too. What features do you need? Why do you think these apps are limited?

Agreed. A lot of the documentation is stuff I wouldn’t use in my day-to-day. It may be interesting to learn, but it’s ultimately a waste of time if you’re not going to apply it. As you said, it’s better to investigate solutions to current issues.

When I do read them like a book, it’s usually on my iPad in Safari.

I guess I was hoping for something that would work offline like my kindle and also equally responsive. The epub readers I use seem very slow...however, I'm starting to wonder if the slow is related to the size of most documentation.

Especially for big projects or services it's really impractical to read them as a book. I usually end up reading a bunch sitting at the desk while working on the thing itself, but sometimes I send a couple of links/anchor that I want to deep dive on to my phone and read them when queueing/on the bus/etc.

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