A micro-manifesto for better writing & publishing online.

Writing documents — and sharing them — should be better.

More personal. More expressive. More alive.

There are seven core pillars of delightful docs.

Light

Docs should be fast. Speed is a delight unto itself. Give me instant page loads; ultra-responsive UI. Minimal settings; good defaults. Perfect the core text editing experience. Do fewer things, better.

Expressive

Docs should afford a wide range of creative uses. Composable and customizable. Theming, so docs can look distinctive — look like me. Collaborative surfaces; flexible substrates. Infinite paths.

Artifacts

Docs should be tangible, solid, bounded. They should feel nice as things, when made and shared. Even digital docs should present as material to work with. Alone or together. Raw, rough, or complete. Creative objects, simple or complex, that evolve.

Fun

Docs should be a joy to work with. They should look good and feel good, whether you're doing your thousandth revision or seeing one for the first time. A blank canvas for your creativity. Playful touches. Better than strictly necessary.

Legible

Docs should be simple, clean, readable. Easy to skim and scan. The interface should get out of the way. Just enough structure and no more.

Emergent

Docs should be places where big ideas come to life. Sites for sensemaking, solo or collective. Where attention and intention can be directed; where work takes shape and ideas emerge.

Tinkerable

Docs should be tools for thinking. Thinkers love to tinker. Rejigger the frame; fiddle with the details. From playing with rough ideas to polishing a final draft.

Seven pillars — that's L-E-A-F-L-E-T 🍃

Say it with us: Leaflet.

Next time you need a doc that delights, try leaflet.pub and step into a world where writing feels good again.