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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/34131
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

For online, developer-centered documentation for a complex software product, which structure is going to be more usable: a smaller number of long, comprehensive pages, or a larger number of more granular pages? Which organization should I choose to make finding information easier and more user-friendly?

This is assuming each page is well-structured, has a sticky internal table of contents, and a page-wide search that can point the user to specific anchors inside the pages.

The arguments I see so far are:

- Granular pages can contain a single piece of information per page, can be easier to consume at a glance
- Comprehensive pages can contain all information related to a larger topic, or an overview of a whole feature
- Comprehensive pages are better for in-page/browser searching
- Granular pages make it easier to identify where one sub-topic ends and another begins
- Granular pages require more clicking to browse through content

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Potentially related question: [What is considered an acceptable length for a technical document?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/17892/what-is-considered-an-acceptable-length-for-a-technical-document)

Original score: 11