First of all, why have a well designed README.md?

Having a well designed README.md would give you the following benefits:

• Makes the project documentation much easier to understand
• It would give others the impression that your work is organized.
• It could even help you point out and plan what you want to do with your project
• It makes your project stand out from other projects

This is an example of a well designed README.md

On the other hand this is an example of a poorly designed README.md

Automation

“You're either the one that creates the automation or you're getting automated“ ~ Tom Preston-Werner

Some developers would rather spend time on the project itself than to spend it on a README.md, this is why automation is a key component here.

Here are a few examples of websites/apps that (almost) automate creating README.md files.

Readme.so

A really simple to use web app that simplifies creating README.md which is so close to automating it compared to the original way of creating README.md files, where you could add templates of sections and it makes it easier to know what to add to your README.md file.

Typora.io

A more minimalistic downloadable app that shows you a live preview of markdown language being written, it's not that much of automation but it helps you visualize what you type in a better way. (Available on Windows/OSX/Linux)

StackEdit.io

StackEdit is more of a markdown editor than a README.MD automation tool, but the way it's accessible is similar to Microsoft Word or even Google Docs which might be familiar to people who were used to working on those type of platforms.

In conclusion

The key component in making markdown files is finding an easy way to do them which doesn't cost a lot of time, the tools above are examples that could help you as a developer/writer to write a README.md file.

Thank you for reading my article!