Customize output

Writerside builds a modern-looking web help with a fixed layout and dark mode support. The layout is adapted for a wide range of display sizes, from mobile devices to desktop monitors.

Writerside also provides some customization, such as the accent color, site logo, and favicon. You can customize the output in the build configuration file: buildprofiles.xml.

If you do not have this file yet, create it. Here is an example that you can use:

        <buildprofiles xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
           xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="https://resources.jetbrains.com/writerside/1.0/build-profiles.xsd">
            <variables>
                <primary-color>aqua</primary-color>
                <custom-favicons>favicon.png</custom-favicons>
                <header-logo>my-logo.png</header-logo>
                <product-web-url>https://help.example.com</product-web-url>
                <download-title>Get Awesome App</download-title>
                <download-page>https://example.com</download-page>
                <showDownloadButton>true</showDownloadButton>
            </variables>
        </buildprofiles>
    

Change accent color

The accent color is applied to various UI components, such as the focused items in the TOC, active tabs, and buttons.

Open buildprofiles.xml.
Use the <primary-color> element under <variables> and choose from the following values:
- blueberry
- purple
- iris
- strawberry
- dracula
- ruby
- halloween
- emerald
- forest
- deep-ocean
- metallic
- aqua
- frozen (default)

You should be able to see the configured color in the local preview.

Use the <color-preset> element to configure the intensity of the primary accent color.

vivid: Most contrasting usage of the primary accent color.
contrast: Default look with moderate contrasting.
soft: Minimal contrasting touch of the primary accent color.

Change favicon

Web browsers can display the favicon on tabs, in the address bar, browsing history, and bookmarks. Similar to the header logo, set the favicon to represent your company, product, or project.

By default, Writerside uses the JetBrains logo:

Put the favicon image into the images directory in your project or host it on some publicly accessible web server.
Supported formats are SVG, PNG, and ICO.
You can use up to five favicons in different sizes: 16x16, 32x32, 96x96, 300x300, 500x500.
Open buildprofiles.xml.
Use the <custom-favicons> element under <variables> to specify the icons.
Single local favicon:
<custom-favicons>favicon.png</custom-favicons>
Single favicon as a URL:
<custom-favicons>https://www.jetbrains.com/icon.svg</custom-favicons>
Multiple favicons ordered by size:
<custom-favicons>icon16.png,icon32.png,icon96.png,icon300.png,icon500.png</custom-favicons>

You can add the logo of your company, product, or project in the header next to the help instance name.

Put the logo image into the images directory in your project.
Logo image requirements are:
- SVG or PNG format. We recommend using SVG for better quality on Retina and 4K displays.
- Height-to-width aspect ratio between 1.2 and 0.24. We recommend using square images.
- Image height more than 48px.
Open buildprofiles.xml.
Use the <header-logo> element under <variables> to specify the logo filename.
<header-logo>my-logo.png</header-logo>
If necessary, use the <product-web-url> element to add a URL that should open when your readers click the header logo. This is usually the home page of your help website, but you can also reference your company website or your project repository.
<product-web-url>https://help.example.com</product-web-url>

Add header button

You can add a button in the header with a link to the download location of the app, your corporate website, or the repository of your project.

Open buildprofiles.xml.
Specify the text and URL, and enable the button:
<download-title>Get Awesome App</download-title> <download-page>https://example.com</download-page> <showDownloadButton>true</showDownloadButton>
<download-page> and <showDownloadButton> are required, while the <download-title> element is optional. Without it, Writerside will insert a button with the default text Get %instance%, where %instance% is the name of the current instance.

Writerside lets you customize the footer to improve navigation to product-related resources and make your documentation website more visually appealing. You can add links to social media and other resources, copyright information, and support contacts.

Open buildprofiles.xml or create it if you do not have it yet.
Specify the footer configuration parameters inside the <footer> element. For example:
<buildprofiles xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="https://resources.jetbrains.com/writerside/1.0/build-profiles.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <footer> <copyright>2000 JetBrains s.r.o.</copyright> <social type="twitter" href="https://twitter.com/onwriterside"/> <link href="https://blog.jetbrains.com">Blog</link> </footer> </buildprofiles>

Here are the available parameters:

copyright

Copyright information that usually mentions the company or legal entity name, with the year when the content was created or a range of years.

<copyright>2000 JetBrains s.r.o.</copyright>

icp

Information about the Internet Content Provider license.

The previous example will be rendered as Shangai ICP 12345.

social

Link to a social media resource, which will be rendered with the corresponding icon. Use the type attribute to specify the social media type, such as twitter. Use the href attribute to specify the URL.

link

Link to an external resource, for example, the support forum, terms of use, or a licensing policy. The text you put inside the tag will serve as the title. Use the href attribute to specify the URL.

                        <link href="https://blog.jetbrains.com">JetBrains Blog</link>
                        <link href="https://slack.jetbrains.com">JetBrains Slack</link>
                        

This is how an empty footer looks by default:

This is how the footer looks with a copyright notice and two social links:

                <footer>
                    <copyright>Product 2023</copyright>
                    <social type="blog" href=""></social>
                    <social type="twitter" href=""></social>
                </footer>
            

This is how the footer looks with all possible elements:

                <footer>
                    <copyright>Product 2000-2023</copyright>
                    <icp>123456789</icp>
                    <social type="blog" href="link to a blog"></social>
                    <social type="twitter" href="link to a Twitter account"></social>
                    <social type="facebook" href="link to a Facebook account"></social>
                    <link href="https://slack.example.com">Slack community</link>
                    <link href="https://stackoverflow.com">StackOverflow</link>
                    <link href="https://example.com/terms-an-conditions.html">Terms and conditions</link>
                    <link href="https://example.com/code-of-conduct.html">Code of Conduct</link>
                </footer>
            

Last modified: 11 May 2024

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