---
stage: none
group: Style Guide
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Documentation topic types (CTRT)

Each topic on a page should be one of the following topic types:

- [Concept](concept.md)
- [Task](task.md)
- [Reference](reference.md)
- [Troubleshooting](troubleshooting.md)

Even if a page is short, the page usually starts with a concept and then
includes a task or reference topic.

The tech writing team sometimes uses the acronym `CTRT` to refer to our topic types.
The acronym refers to the first letter of each topic type.

In addition to the four primary topic types, we also have a page type for
[Tutorials](tutorial.md) and [Get started](#get-started).

## Related topics

If inline links are not sufficient, you can create a topic called **Related topics**
and include an unordered list of related topics. This topic should be above the Troubleshooting section.

```markdown
## Related topics

- [Configure your pipeline](link-to-topic).
- [Trigger a pipeline manually](link-to-topic).
```

## Get started

A get started page is a set of steps to help a user get set up
quickly to use a single GitLab feature or tool.
It consists of more than one task.

Get started pages should be in this format:

```markdown
# Title ("Get started with <feature>")

Complete the following steps to ... .

1. First step.
1. Another step.
1. Another step.

If you need to add more than one task,
consider using subsections for each distinct task.
```

In the left nav, use `Get started` as the text. On the page itself, spell out
the full name. For example, `Get started with application security`.

## Topics and resources

Some pages are solely a list of links to other documentation.

We do not encourage this page type. Lists of links can get out-of-date quickly
and offer little value to users, who prefer to search to find information.

## Topic title guidelines

In general, for topic titles:

- Be clear and direct. Make every word count.
- Use articles and prepositions.
- Follow [capitalization](../styleguide/index.md#capitalization) guidelines.
- Do not repeat text from earlier topic titles. For example, if the page is about merge requests,
  instead of `Troubleshooting merge requests`, use only `Troubleshooting`.

See also [guidelines for heading levels in Markdown](../styleguide/index.md#heading-levels-in-markdown).