Quickie-MD is a guideline I use for READMEs, to keep them simple and detailed, whilst still being clean and effective. The positioning of the sections gets out of the way with that the reader wants to see, and is also flexible.
There is a template in the repository describing how documents should be done. In detail,
- Limit the README only to 5 sections total, use as little as possible and get to the point.
- Follow KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).
- Put the details people would want to see near the top.
- Limit to a couple of sentences per section.
- No unnecessary things to add.