Switch from using Sphinx to Mkdocs when building documentation

[nfelt14]

Proposed changes

Currently the documentation build takes over 60 minutes and uses almost 12 GB of RAM. This makes it incompatible with the ReadtheDocs servers and very hard to check changes locally.

This update switches the documentation build system from Sphinx to Mkdocs. This resulted in a new build time of just over 7 minutes while only using ~5.5 GB of RAM. This should enable us to switch to using ReadtheDocs for documentation hosting.

This PR also includes updates to the main README, in order to make it render properly on GitHub and PyPI.

fixes #77

Important

In order to view the pre-built documentation from the artifacts, you need to run python -m http.server -d <path_to_doc_folder>

Types of changes

What types of changes does your code introduce?
Put an x in the boxes that apply

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• CI/CD update (an update to the CI/CD workflows, scripts, and/or configurations)
• Documentation update (an update to enhance the user experience when reading through the docs)

Checklist

Put an x in the boxes that apply. You can also fill these out after creating the PR. If you're unsure about any of them, don't hesitate to ask. We're here to help! This is simply a reminder of what we are going to look for before merging your code.

• I have followed the guidelines in the CONTRIBUTING document
• I have signed the CLA
• I have checked to ensure there aren't other open Pull Requests for the same update/change
• I have performed a self-review of my code
• My code follows the style guidelines of this project
• I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• Basic linting passes locally with my changes
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works
• New and existing unit tests pass locally with my changes
• I have added necessary documentation (if appropriate)
• I have updated the Changelog with a brief description of my changes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests ✅

Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (008e2b2) to head (f2047d2).
Report is 23 commits behind head on main.

❗ Current head f2047d2 differs from pull request most recent head 4ab9474. Consider uploading reports for the commit 4ab9474 to get more accurate results

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##              main      #198    +/-   ##
==========================================
  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%            
==========================================
  Files          170       171     +1     
  Lines         3804      4269   +465     
  Branches       643       643            
==========================================
+ Hits          3804      4269   +465     

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

[github-actions]

Test Results (macos)

path	passed	subtotal
tests/test_afgs.py	2	2
tests/test_alias_dict.py	1	1
tests/test_all_device_drivers.py	1	1
tests/test_alternative_connection_addresses.py	17	17
tests/test_awgs.py	1	1
tests/test_config_parser.py	34	34
tests/test_device_manager.py	18	18
tests/test_devices_legacy_tsp_ieee_cmds.py	3	3
tests/test_helpers.py	68	68
tests/test_ieee_scpi_cmds.py	1	1
tests/test_margin_testers.py	5	5
tests/test_pi_device.py	1	1
tests/test_psu.py	1	1
tests/test_rest_api_device.py	10	10
tests/test_scopes.py	6	6
tests/test_singleton.py	1	1
tests/test_smu.py	4	4
tests/test_ss.py	1	1
tests/test_tm_devices.py	4	4
TOTAL	179	179

Link to workflow run

[github-actions]

Test Results (ubuntu)

path	passed	subtotal
tests/test_afgs.py	2	2
tests/test_alias_dict.py	1	1
tests/test_all_device_drivers.py	1	1
tests/test_alternative_connection_addresses.py	17	17
tests/test_awgs.py	1	1
tests/test_config_parser.py	34	34
tests/test_device_manager.py	18	18
tests/test_devices_legacy_tsp_ieee_cmds.py	3	3
tests/test_helpers.py	68	68
tests/test_ieee_scpi_cmds.py	1	1
tests/test_margin_testers.py	5	5
tests/test_pi_device.py	1	1
tests/test_psu.py	1	1
tests/test_rest_api_device.py	10	10
tests/test_scopes.py	6	6
tests/test_singleton.py	1	1
tests/test_smu.py	4	4
tests/test_ss.py	1	1
tests/test_tm_devices.py	4	4
TOTAL	179	179

Link to workflow run

[github-actions]

Test Results (windows)

path	passed	subtotal
tests\test_afgs.py	2	2
tests\test_alias_dict.py	1	1
tests\test_all_device_drivers.py	1	1
tests\test_alternative_connection_addresses.py	17	17
tests\test_awgs.py	1	1
tests\test_config_parser.py	34	34
tests\test_device_manager.py	18	18
tests\test_devices_legacy_tsp_ieee_cmds.py	3	3
tests\test_helpers.py	68	68
tests\test_ieee_scpi_cmds.py	1	1
tests\test_margin_testers.py	5	5
tests\test_pi_device.py	1	1
tests\test_psu.py	1	1
tests\test_rest_api_device.py	10	10
tests\test_scopes.py	6	6
tests\test_singleton.py	1	1
tests\test_smu.py	4	4
tests\test_ss.py	1	1
tests\test_tm_devices.py	4	4
TOTAL	179	179

Link to workflow run

[CLAassistant]

Thank you for your submission! We really appreciate it. Like many open source projects, we ask that you all sign our Contributor License Agreement before we can accept your contribution.
4 out of 6 committers have signed the CLA.

✅ v12ganesh
✅ adityakb
✅ u625355
✅ nfelt14
❌ dependabot[bot]
❌ tek-githubbot-1010
_{You have signed the CLA already but the status is still pending? Let us recheck it.}

[nfelt14]

Closing PR to fix commit issues.