An alternative Javadoc

This is a beta state code, so any kind of feedback and contribution is welcome!

Javadoc is (or at least may be) the most important asset that any Java developer may deliver beside the code and the product. However the current state of Javadoc has some drawbacks:

• it has a drastically outdated look and feel
• it is not easy to search for information as it is not properly indexable
• deep linking is a big problem and simply does not work

We believe even technical people deserve a modern look and feel in their daily work. Therefore this project aims to provide a modern alternative for standard Javadoc.

This project intends to provide a way to generate highly customizable javadoc output which can be simply modified and changed. In addition a default theme will be provided which look good enough to start with but is never meant to be the only solution.

Sample output

You can view a sample documentation output here. Bear in mind that the code is still in beta status and output may change very fast.

Origins and future

This project is forked from kwf2030/doclava and therefore indirectly from Google’s doclava. Doclava was a javadoc doclet which was originally written by Google and used for Android Developer Docs. Clear and efficient.

To get an overview of where this project stands and what it is going to be in near future, take a look at the roadmap.

Modification and personalisation

This project is planned with flexibility in mind. You should be able to modify and replace output to the maximum possible extent. Therefore we have templates. If you want to modify we recommend reading about them in templating guide.

How to use this lib

Before trying to use this tool for generation of your own documentation, it is again important to insist that the code is on a beta stage.

After obtaining the latest JAR (from here, you can issue following command to generate your Javadocs:

$ javadoc -encoding UTF-8 \
    -sourcepath path/to/your/project/src/main/java/ \
    -d output/path/ \
    -subpackages your.package.prefix \
    -docletpath ~/Projects/doclava-1.0.6.jar \
    -doclet com.google.doclava.Doclava 

You can even download the templates of the same release and modify them as you like, then use the modified templates by issuing following command:

$ javadoc -encoding UTF-8 \
    -sourcepath path/to/your/project/src/main/java/ \
    -d output/path/ \
    -subpackages your.package.prefix \
    -docletpath ~/Projects/doclava-1.0.6.jar \
    -doclet com.google.doclava.Doclava \
    -templatedir path/to/your/modified/templates/