Callouts

Callouts direct your attention to information of special importance or to information that doesn't fit smoothly into the main text. Consider your reader. If your doc has too many callouts, it might confuse your reader about what matters the most and distract them from what does.

Use your callouts judiciously. Recommendation: Skim the complete doc. If there are too many callouts, decide which ones can be removed.

Types of callouts

We have a number of callout types, and each is controlled by the variant you include in the <Callout> tag.

Here's an example of the format for a tip callout:

<Callout variant="tip">
  Your tip text goes here.

  It can have multiple paragraphs.
</Callout>

Here are examples of our callout variants:

Avoid callout fatigue

Callout fatigue is what happens when there are too many callouts on a doc. A single callout is a great way to draw attention to important information, but the more callouts there are, the more likely it is that your reader won't read the callouts.

Keep these things in mind when you're working with callouts:

• If you add a callout, remove a callout. Wherever possible, don't increase the number of callouts.
• Do not use stacked callouts. Stacked callouts are two or more callouts that follow directly one after another. Not only do not use these, but if you see this in a doc, take a few minutes to break these callouts up.
• Remove outdated callouts. As you're going through the docs site, if you see a callout that's outdated, for whatever reason, take a few minutes to delete it from the doc.
• Be stingy in your use of important and warning callouts. If we use important and warning callouts too often, they lose their effectiveness.

Stacked callouts example

Here's an example of the stacked callouts we'd love to avoid.

Preview doc callouts

For preview docs, add a custom callout using the default color:

After the first line, and depending on where the preview callout will be published, remember to include this required default message:

• For public previews on docs.newrelic.com: You must also include this standard message in the callout at the top of each preview page.

  preview

  We're still working on this feature, but we'd love for you to try it out!

  This feature is currently provided as part of a preview program pursuant to our pre-release policies.

• For preview features only available on our private beta site: You must also include this standard message in the callout at the top of each preview page.

  preview

  We're still working on this feature, but we'd love for you to try it out!

  New Relic's proprietary and confidential information. For authorized users only. Unauthorized uses and disclosures are prohibited.

  This feature is currently provided as part of a preview program pursuant to our pre-release policies.