# Quick start
It is recommended to install `docsify-cli` globally, which helps initializing and previewing the website locally.
```bash
npm i docsify-cli -g
```
## Initialize
If you want to write the documentation in the `./docs` subdirectory, you can use the `init` command.
```bash
docsify init ./docs
```
## Writing content
After the `init` is complete, you can see the file list in the `./docs` subdirectory.
- `index.html` as the entry file
- `README.md` as the home page
- `.nojekyll` prevents GitHub Pages from ignoring files that begin with an underscore
You can easily update the documentation in `./docs/README.md`, of course you can add [more pages](more-pages.md).
## Preview your site
Run the local server with `docsify serve`. You can preview your site in your browser on `http://localhost:3000`.
```bash
docsify serve docs
```
?> For more use cases of `docsify-cli`, head over to the [docsify-cli documentation](https://github.com/docsifyjs/docsify-cli).
## Manual initialization
If you don't like `npm` or have trouble installing the tool, you can manually create `index.html`:
```html
```
### Specifying docsify versions
?> Note that in both of the examples below, docsify URLs will need to be manually updated when a new major version of docsify is released (e.g. `v4.x.x` => `v5.x.x`). Check the docsify website periodically to see if a new major version has been released.
Specifying a major version in the URL (`@4`) will allow your site will receive non-breaking enhancements (i.e. "minor" updates) and bug fixes (i.e. "patch" updates) automatically. This is the recommended way to load docsify resources.
```html
```
If you prefer to lock docsify to a specific version, specify the full version after the `@` symbol in the URL. This is the safest way to ensure your site will look and behave the same way regardless of any changes made to future versions of docsify.
```html
```
### Manually preview your site
If you have Python installed on your system, you can easily use it to run a static server to preview your site.
```python2
cd docs && python -m SimpleHTTPServer 3000
```
```python3
cd docs && python -m http.server 3000
```
## Loading dialog
If you want, you can show a loading dialog before docsify starts to render your documentation:
```html
Please wait...
```
You should set the `data-app` attribute if you changed `el`:
```html