Blog Formatting Test

This post demonstrates the new formatting options available for blog posts: sidenotes and callout blocks.

Sidenotes

Sidenotes allow you to add supplementary information without interrupting the main flow of text. They appear in the margin on desktop and collapse to inline blocks on mobile.

This is a sidenote. On wide screens, it appears in the right margin. On narrow screens, it becomes an inline block.

You can use sidenotes for citations, clarifications, tangential thoughts, or any content that supports but doesn’t belong in the main text. The reader can choose to engage with them or skip them entirely.

Here’s another paragraph with a sidenote.

Sidenotes work best when they’re brief. If you have a lot to say, consider whether it belongs in the main text instead.

Callout Blocks

Callouts highlight important information. There are four variants:

A note callout

Notes are for supplementary information that’s worth highlighting but isn’t critical. Use them for context, background, or interesting asides.

Pro tip

Tips share helpful advice, best practices, or shortcuts. They’re friendly suggestions from the author.

Be careful

Warnings alert readers to potential issues, gotchas, or things that could go wrong. Use them sparingly for genuine concerns.

Key takeaway

Important callouts emphasize critical information that readers shouldn’t miss. Reserve these for essential points.

Callouts with Nested Content

Callouts can contain various content types:

Consider testing your documentation directly

If you specifically want to evaluate how well your documentation is optimized for an LLM, you can try asking the AI tool directly, as Casey Smith suggests inAI chat as user research:

Running content through an AI chat to ask what it thinks is one of the greatest uses for AI as a technical writer. I’m thinking of it as user research, only my user is an LLM with a chat interface. With the adoption of AI chatbots, it makes sense to include them in our content testing and review plans, right?

The important distinction here is that you’re not replacing user testing with a chatbot, but instead testing the success of a different kind of documentation user—the LLM-based chatbot.

Mixing Sidenotes and Callouts

You can use both features in the same article. Sidenotes work well for brief asides, while callouts draw attention to structured information.

Performance and quality of LLM-based tools is somewhat inconsistent due to changes in model performance, system prompts in use, and other factors. Therefore, a wobbly baseline is all that I think you can expect.

When to use which

Use sidenotes for brief, optional context. Use callouts for important information you want everyone to see.

This combination gives you flexibility in how you present information to readers.