How do I read documentation properly instead of only watching tutorials?

Documentation isn't meant to be read like a book — it's a reference you dip into with a specific question. Most people bounce off docs because they open the homepage and start at the top, which is roughly like learning a city by reading the phone directory. How to actually use them: 1. Arrive with a question. Not 'learn React' but 'how do I run code after a component renders'. Docs are organised as answers; without a question you have nothing to look up. 2. Use the search box and the sidebar, not the introduction. Almost every docs site has good search. Type the specific term, land on the exact page. 3. Read the code examples first, prose second. Most docs pages have a short example near the top. Read it, guess what it does, then read the surrounding text to confirm. Code first is much faster than prose first for programmers. 4. Copy the example into your project and change one thing. Understanding arrives from modifying working code far quicker than from reading about it. 5. Learn to read a function signature. `useEffect(setup, dependencies?)` tells you the name, the arguments, and that the second is optional. Once signatures stop looking like noise, reference docs become fast. Which docs are worth your trust: official documentation for the language or library, and MDN for anything web (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, browser APIs). MDN in particular is unusually well written — the difference between good and bad docs is enormous, and if a project's docs are genuinely terrible, using tutorials is a reasonable response, not a failure on your part. Why it's worth the effort despite the friction: tutorials teach you one path someone chose; docs teach you what's actually possible. Tutorials go stale; docs are updated with the library. And the moment you work on anything niche or new, there simply are no tutorials — the ability to learn from primary sources is what separates people who can only follow from people who can figure things out. The way to build the habit without hating it: keep using tutorials, but after finishing one, look up the two or three main functions it used in the official docs. You already have context, so the docs will read easily, and you'll notice the tutorial skipped options that matter. Do that a dozen times and docs stop being intimidating — you'll start going there first because it's quicker.