Documentation Standards

For contributors, editors, and admins who are maintaining the knowledge base.

Information Architecture Guidelines

To keep our content clear, easy to navigate, and reusable across different purposes, we organize knowledge using the following structure in NEXT.

A Shelf is a collection of related Books, grouped for a specific audience or purpose.
Use Shelves to curate content, not to structure it deeply.
A Book can appear in multiple Shelves, so avoid putting all unrelated topics into one Book.
Examples of Shelves:
- Newcomer Essentials – Books selected to help someone new understand our church.
- Leadership Toolkit – Books for ministry leaders and those who serve.
- Administration – Books related to governance, finances, operations, and facilities.

A Book is centered around one main topic or area of knowledge.
Keep Books focused so they can be reused across different Shelves.
Don’t try to cover everything in one Book—break things out by topic.
Examples of Books:
- Church Governance – contains bylaws, decision-making structure, leadership policies.
- Church Operations – includes facility usage, scheduling, and logistics.
- Children’s Ministry Guide – curriculum, volunteer roles, and safety guidelines.
- Bible Study on John – weekly lessons and group discussion materials.

A Chapter organizes related Pages that follow the same format, structure, or theme.
Chapters are optional but useful when multiple Pages need to be grouped together logically.
Examples of Chapters:
- In Church Operations: Facility Management – includes facility usage rules, booking forms, cleaning checklists.
- In Church Governance: Core Documents – includes bylaws, mission statement, and church constitution.
- In Bible Study on John: Weekly Lessons – each page is one week’s content.

A Page should focus on one clear topic, policy, lesson, or resource.
Pages are where actual content lives. Keep them concise and easy to scan.
If a Page gets too long or covers multiple topics, consider splitting it.
Examples of Pages:
- Facility Usage Guidelines
- Church Bylaws
- Lesson 1: The Word Became Flesh
- Role: Worship Leader