finnstructions

A documentation website about caring for my dog, Finn — built while I learn MkDocs with the Material theme.

Live site: johnthompson.io/finnstructions

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Table of Contents

• finnstructions
  • Table of Contents
  • About
  • Features
  • Getting Started
    • Prerequisites
    • Installation & Setup
  • Project Structure
  • Customizations
  • Contributing
  • License
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer

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About

This project is a personal documentation site for caring for my dog, Finn. As I build it, I'm using it both as a reference for Finn’s routines, health, training, etc., and as a way to learn and experiment with documentation tooling.

Built with:

• MkDocs — static site generator
• Material for MkDocs — theme

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Features

• Clean, responsive site design
• Navigation structure for docs (e.g. care, training, feeding, routines)
• Easy markdown-based content — simple to update
• Deployed live (GitHub Pages / other host)
• Theme customizations (colors, styles, layout)

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Getting Started

These instructions will help you set up the project locally to develop or preview changes.

Prerequisites

• Python (3.x)
• pip to install Python packages

Installation & Setup

1. Clone the repo

   git clone https://github.com/JohnMThompson/finnstructions.git
   cd finnstructions

2. Install dependencies

   pip install mkdocs
   pip install mkdocs-material

   (Alternatively, if you use a requirements.txt or dev requirements, install via that.)

3. Serve locally

   mkdocs serve

   Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000 in your browser to view the site. Changes you make in Markdown will automatically rebuild.

4. Build for production / deploy

   mkdocs build

   Then deploy the site/ folder to hosting (GitHub Pages, Netlify, etc.) as configured.

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Project Structure

finnstructions/
├── docs/           ← markdown files (your content)
├── site/           ← generated static site output
├── mkdocs.yml      ← configuration file for MkDocs
├── .github/        ← GitHub actions / workflows
├── .cache/         ← build cache, plugins
└── ...             ← other config or theme‐related directories

Some key files/folders:

• docs/ — where all your documentation pages live
• mkdocs.yml — controls navigation, theme settings, plugins
• .github/workflows/ — if you have CI/CD or deployment automation setup
• site/ — generated files (don’t edit manually)

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Customizations

Here are some of the theme/plugin customizations or extras you might already have (or could add):

• Material theme settings: colors, navigation depth, icon usage
• Plugins (search, redirects, etc.)
• Custom CSS overrides
• Metadata (site descriptions, favicon)

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Contributing

Although this is mostly a personal project, if you see something that could improve (typos, layout, more content around dog care, etc.), happy to accept suggestions:

• Fork the repo
• Create a branch for your change
• Submit a pull request

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License

Specify your license here (e.g. MIT, Apache 2.0, etc.)
If you don’t have one yet, consider choosing one so people know how the content/code can be used.

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Contact

If you have questions or feedback, you can reach me at John Thompson — via GitHub issues or email.

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Disclaimer

This README was created with assistance from AI (ChatGPT).