Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Dash for macOS VS ReadTheDocs

Compare Dash for macOS VS ReadTheDocs and see what are their differences

Dash for macOS logo Dash for macOS

Dash is an API Documentation Browser and Code Snippet Manager. Dash searches offline documentation of 200+ APIs and stores snippets of code. You can also generate your own documentation sets.

ReadTheDocs logo ReadTheDocs

Spend your time on writing high quality documentation, not on the tools to make your documentation work.
  • Dash for macOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-22
  • ReadTheDocs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09

Dash for macOS features and specs

  • Comprehensive Documentation Library
    Dash offers an extensive collection of API documentation sets for a wide range of programming languages and frameworks, making it a one-stop solution for developers who need quick access to reference materials.
  • Offline Access
    Dash allows users to download documentation for offline use, which is invaluable when working in environments without internet access or when attempting to reduce dependency on online resources.
  • Snippets Manager
    Dash includes a snippets manager that enables users to store and organize code snippets, which can significantly accelerate coding by reusing previously written code.
  • Integration with IDEs
    Dash integrates seamlessly with a variety of popular integrated development environments (IDEs) and code editors, like Xcode, Atom, Sublime Text, and more, streamlining the development workflow.
  • Custom Docsets
    Users can create and manage their own custom docsets, allowing for documentation customization specific to internal libraries or less common technologies.

Possible disadvantages of Dash for macOS

  • Paid Software
    Dash is a paid application, which may be a deterrent for some users who prefer free solutions or developers working with tight budgets.
  • macOS Only
    Dash is exclusive to macOS, which excludes users on other operating systems like Windows or Linux from utilizing its features.
  • Initial Set-Up Time
    Initial setup of Dash and downloading the necessary documentation sets can be time-consuming, especially for users who require multiple docsets.
  • Limited Cloud Syncing
    Dash doesn't offer robust cloud syncing options for documentation sets or snippet repositories, meaning users need to manually manage these files if working across multiple devices.

ReadTheDocs features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    ReadTheDocs simplifies the process of generating and hosting documentation. It integrates easily with various version control systems like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, making it straightforward to deploy and update documentation.
  • Automatic Builds
    Documentation is automatically built and updated each time changes are pushed to the repository. This ensures that the docs are always in sync with the codebase.
  • Search Functionality
    Search functionality is built-in, providing users with the ability to quickly find information within the documentation.
  • Custom Themability
    ReadTheDocs supports theming and custom CSS, allowing users to personalize the look and feel of their documentation.
  • Multi-Version Support
    It supports multiple versions of documentation, making it easy to maintain and access different versions of your project’s documentation.
  • Multi-Language Support
    ReadTheDocs provides support for multiple languages, enabling users to create and manage documentation in various languages.
  • Integration with Sphinx
    As ReadTheDocs relies on Sphinx, it offers powerful extensions and integrations, enhancing the documentation capabilities with code syntax highlighting, inline citations, and API documentation generation.

Possible disadvantages of ReadTheDocs

  • Limited Customization
    While ReadTheDocs offers theming capabilities, it is still relatively limited compared to custom-built documentation sites. Customizing beyond basic theming can be challenging.
  • Performance Issues
    For very large projects, the build times can be longer, and occasional performance issues might arise, especially with extensive documentation.
  • Learning Curve
    Although it is designed to be user-friendly, integrating with Sphinx and setting up the initial configuration for complex projects can have a learning curve.
  • Dependency on Sphinx
    As ReadTheDocs relies heavily on Sphinx, any limitations or bugs within Sphinx can directly affect the documentation site's functionality.
  • Limited Control Over Hosting
    Because it's a hosted service, users have limited control over the hosting environment, which could be a limitation for some companies requiring specific deployment configurations.
  • Potential Downtime
    Since it’s a cloud service, ReadTheDocs may experience downtime or outages, which could temporarily affect the availability of the documentation.
  • Inconsistent Build Environments
    Differences between local development and the ReadTheDocs build environment can sometimes lead to inconsistencies and unexpected issues in the rendered documentation.

Dash for macOS videos

Dash for macOS

ReadTheDocs videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Dash for macOS and ReadTheDocs)
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0
Documentation
0 0%
100% 100
Software Development
100 100%
0% 0
Task Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Dash for macOS and ReadTheDocs

Dash for macOS Reviews

  1. Stan
    · Founder at SaaSHub ·
    One of my favourite productivity tools as a software developer

    Once you get use to it, you won't be able to imagine your life without Dash. It will save you a bit of time every day. Many times.

    As a bonus you can use the "snippets" feature as a generic text-expander. That saves me tons of time when writing emails, too.

    p.s. aText is not exactly a direct competitor; however, I replaced it through the snippets feature of Dash.

    🏁 Competitors: aText

Best Text Expander apps for MacOS
Dash offers one of the most simplistic ways to start adding your own snippets. Dash 3 offers a set of language documentation at the side and this is something that will help you with rules and references. The tool allows you to create snippets by simply copying the phrase. Alternatively, you can also create custom snippets using keyboard commands. Dash allows users to setup...
Source: techwiser.com
What's a good alternative to Textexpander for Mac?
14DashView Productajimix4Written 4y agoIf you are a developer, Dash is your choice. It also does text-expanding and works great!🙏 helpful 3CommentsShare

ReadTheDocs Reviews

Best Gitbook Alternatives You Need to Try in 2023
ReadTheDocs is a web-based platform for building, hosting, and versioning documentation. It supports multiple languages and has built-in versioning, so you can easily switch between different versions of your documentation. It also integrates with various version control systems, including GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. Additionally, ReadTheDocs provides a hosting service...
Source: www.archbee.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Dash for macOS seems to be a lot more popular than ReadTheDocs. While we know about 90 links to Dash for macOS, we've tracked only 2 mentions of ReadTheDocs. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Dash for macOS mentions (90)

  • Man pages are great, man readers are the problem
    Https://kapeli.com/dash for MacOS supports man pages just like any of its many other documentation sources. Just prefix the search query with `man:`. Absolute hall of fame app IMO. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Why "alias" is my last resort for aliases
    Yeah, I do something kind of similar, using Dash [1] snippets which expand to full commands. Since I'm almost always on my mac, it means they're available in every shell, including remote shells, and in other situations like on Slack or writing documentation. I mostly use § as a prefix so I don't type them accidentally (although my git shortcuts are all `gg`-consonant which is not likely to appear in real typing).... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Patterns for Personal Web Sites (2003)
    Yeah, I keep thinking that CHM was the peak format for offline docs. Today we have Kiwix [0] and Dash/Zeal [1] – both amazing projects, but somehow they feel more complex, and the formats they use aren’t as ubiquitous. [0]: https://kiwix.org/en/ [1]: https://kapeli.com/dash for macOS, https://zealdocs.org/ for others. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Ask HN: What is one software product that boosted your productivity?
    Dash https://kapeli.com/dash Mac app. A native standardised search and browsing interface for the documentation of almost every programming language out there (and in some cases, their third-party libraries too). - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Rerun: Visualize Multimodal Data over Time
    Rerun is great. I wish they prioritize rerun_sdk build for iOS and/or Android - so that you can log remotely from mobile devices. Serializing and streaming images, depthmaps, sensors data in own code is a pain and rerun has done great work with that. A little worrying for me that rerun seems getting more complicated and verbose and API changes frequently. The whole vizualization code can clutter algorithm/code... - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
View more

ReadTheDocs mentions (2)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Dash for macOS and ReadTheDocs, you can also consider the following products

Zeal - Zeal is an API Documentation Browser.

GitBook - Modern Publishing, Simply taking your books from ideas to finished, polished books.

DevDocs - Open source API documentation browser with instant fuzzy search, offline mode, keyboard shortcuts, and more

Documize - Enterprise-grade wiki and knowledge management platform

AttendanceBot - Time & attendance tracking for distributed teams

HackMD - Fast and flexible, real-time collaborative markdown, inspired by Hackpad.