Google has the most user friendly and time-saving documentation when compared to Azure and AWS with just one critical feature. I'll call it "edit once and copy". It's amazing Microsoft and Amazon have not copied the feature already.

Edit once and copy

Go to any Google documentation that includes CLI and variables. e.g. https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/create-ptr-record

From the screenshot below, you can see how Google lets you edit a variable in the command on the webpage, and the value of the variable you edit is propagated everywhere the same variable is used further down the page. All you need to do in later steps is to copy the command and paste it into a terminal for execution.

Without this edit once and copy capability, there is a lot more inefficiency:

  1. Copy sample command
  2. Paste into your favorite text editor
  3. Replace the sample variable value with the one you want
  4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for all subsequent commands.

My thoughts

I find it hard for Microsoft and Amazon to claim they are innovative when they cannot even optimize documentation for their customers. Google has a better track record of being efficient and pursuing excellence. Read about Google's 41 shades of blue as an example of (extreme) excellence.

If you have not already used the Google Cloud UI, you will also be astounded by how much more efficient it is compared to Microsoft and Amazon, whether you measure it be number of mouse-clicks or intuitiveness.