What are project guides?

A project guide is made up of multiple step-by-step guides.

Project guides help learners complete multi-part processes by combining individual tasks into a coherent whole. They provide a clear learning sequence and maintain a narrative that shows how the parts fit together.

How project guides extend step-by-step guides

Project guides compose several atomic step-by-step guides into a larger or more advanced outcome.

Use a project guide when:

  • Multiple distinct tasks are required
  • Some tasks are already covered in other guides
  • It would take more than 30 minutes or feel overwhelming as one block

Examples

  • Build a multilingual site
  • Develop a custom frontend plugin with user authentication

Project guides are modular

Project guides follow the same template as regular step-by-step guides, the only difference is that the Task section looks a bit different.

Project guides are fully modular. They are made entirely by linking out to existing step-by-step guides, like ingredients in a recipe.

You should only create a project guide once all the step-by-step guides it depends on have been created. This helps avoid incomplete or blocked project guides.

Exception: In rare cases, an author may find that some procedural steps don’t justify a standalone guide — perhaps because they’re too minor, too specific, or only make sense in the context of the larger flow. In these situations, it may be appropriate to include a small number of inline steps within a project guide. Use this approach only when a task truly cannot stand alone.