When thinking of all the disciplines that keep the web running (design, dev ops, security, etc.), documentation isn’t usually the flashiest. And yet, it plays a critical role in the onboarding, launch, and long-term success of a new platform. We embrace documentation at every stage, but we felt the way we delivered it to our clients could be improved.
In The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman introduces the difference between knowledge in the head and knowledge in the world. When a person can rely on their memory or past experience to complete a task, that’s knowledge in the head. But when the cues and answers are built into the environment itself, right where the work happens, that’s knowledge in the world. Our RKV Guide product is built on that principle: putting essential site knowledge in the site, not tucked away in a separate tool or behind a login wall.
The Right Info in the Wrong Place
Documentation is a core part of our delivery process. We follow the Divio documentation system, and love it for its clarity and separation of purpose. In terms of how, we use Notion to structure the documentation and collaborate on it. We give access to our clients, too.
As helpful as our documentation was, asking clients to deal with another set of credentials and the friction of switching context to find a tutorial or an explanation was not ideal. We often work with folks for whom website updates are just one part of a much bigger job. We wanted to make it easier for them to quickly find help. So why not put it in the WordPress Admin?
RKV Guide: Docs Where You Work
Our solution was to build RKV Guide to bridge the gap between Notion and WordPress. We’ve leveraged the Notion API so that when a piece of documentation is flagged for inclusion in Guide, it is pushed to the admin of the corresponding site. The right documentation is now just a click away, whether you’re writing a post or uploading assets.
The layout is very lean so as not to slow down the admin experience and serve clients with just the info they need. Docs are a custom post type that leverages the Block Editor for rich formatting and embedded media.
RKV Guide is already in use with several of our clients, and integrating their feedback has helped make it even better. Admins can now augment RKV Guide with their own documentation. While Notion often remains the source of truth, allowing the creation of “local” docs means that clients can document their own processes in their own voice as their platform evolves.
Our Tools are Yours, Too
One of our 2025 goals is to make our internal tools open source. At Reaktiv, we believe the best ideas get better when they’re shared, tested, and refined in public. Open source lets us build with transparency, invite feedback, and contribute to a healthier WordPress ecosystem. It means you’re not just using a tool, but you’re part of a community that’s invested in making the web better, together. We will soon start releasing our products, so make sure to sign up for our newsletter to be the first one to know!
