Benefits of and tips on writing short descriptions.
Purpose of Short Descriptions
Short descriptions help users to identify, whether a document contains relevant information.
Within projectdoc query result table entries and automatic lists are typically used to render references to documents with their short descriptions. You may also use the Display Document Properties Macro with a template to show the name and short description of a document.
When not to use Short Descriptions
In case where users do not require additional context information for a link, do not use short descriptions to save space.
So if in a given context the label "Homepage" says it all, you do not need to add the short description. For projectdoc the site homepage for a team usually does not need the short descriptions since the team is working every day with it.
The old layout used to render short descriptions on the homepage. A lot of space is dedicated to these descriptions which are hardly read by the developing team. New team members probably do not benefit from the short descriptions either, since the link labels themselves are meaningful enough.
The new layout renders the homepage without short descriptions. This way the team has more space on the homepage to render information that is important for them on a daily basis.
Here the homepage layout for the space designed for software development projects:
The links to pages to create categories, tags and other document types that are most relevant for document authors are presented here. The homepage for the space (the landing page) provides only the most relevant links for readers, saving space for individual project information:
