update installation intructions

docs/index.rst

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 PyleoTUPS: Automated Paleoclimate Data Extraction and Processing
 ================================================================
 
-PyleoTUPS is a Python package developed by LinkedEarth to simplify access to paleoclimate datasets from major public repositories. It provides a unified interface for searching, retrieving, and processing data from `NOAA NCEI for Paleoclimatology <https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology>`_ and `PANGAEA <https://www.pangaea.de>`_, two repositories that differ substantially in structure, metadata organization, search syntax, and file formats.
+PyleoTUPS is a Python package developed by `LinkedEarth <https://www.linked.earth>`_ to simplify access to paleoclimate datasets from major public repositories. It provides a unified interface for searching, retrieving, and processing data from `NOAA NCEI for Paleoclimatology <https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology>`_ and `PANGAEA <https://www.pangaea.de>`_, two repositories that differ substantially in structure, metadata organization, search syntax, and file formats.
 
 The package is designed to reduce a common bottleneck in paleoclimate research: manually locating datasets, navigating repository-specific APIs, downloading files, parsing legacy formats, and reshaping results for analysis. PyleoTUPS handles these steps through a consistent Python API and returns results as pandas DataFrames with associated metadata.
 

docs/installation.rst

@@ -2,13 +2,71 @@
 
 .. note::
 
-   PyleoTUPS requires the use of Python 3.11 or above
+   PyleoTUPS requires the use of Python 3.11 or above. We recommend using Python 3.12 to work with `Pyleoclim <https://pyleoclim-util.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_. 
 
 Installing PyleoTUPS
 ====================
 
+PyleoTUPS can be easily installed through `PyPI <https://pypi.org/project/pyleotups/>`_. We recommend using a dedicated Anaconda or Miniconda environment to manage dependencies.
+
+Creating an environment and installing PyleoTUPS
+------------------------------------------------
+
+Before installing PyleoTUPS, we recommend creating a dedicated conda environment:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+  conda create --name pyleotups python=3.12
+  conda activate pyleotups
+
 Install PyleoTUPS through PyPI, which contains the most stable version of PyleoTUPS:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
   pip install pyleotups
+
+This will install the latest official release of PyleoTUPS. To install the development version, use:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+  pip install git+https://github.com/LinkedEarth/pyleotups.git
+
+This version may contain bugs not caught by our continuous integration test suite; if so, please report them via `github issues <https://github.com/LinkedEarth/pyleotups/issues>`_.
+
+If you wish to contribute to PyLiPD, see our `contributing guide <https://pyleotups.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contribution_guide.html>`_ for complete instructions on building from the git source tree.
+
+To remove the conda environment:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+  conda remove --name pyleotups --all
+
+More information about managing conda environments can be found `here <https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html>`_.
+
+Running the test suite
+======================
+
+PyleoTUPS comes with a set of unit tests. To run these, you need to install `pytest` in the same environment as PyleoTUPS via `pip install pytest`. To run the tests from a Python terminal, navigate to the tests folder on your computer and run:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+  pytest
+
+Dependencies
+============
+
+PyleoTUPS depends on several Python packages:
+ * pandas
+ * numpy
+ * requests
+ * pybtex
+ * tqdm
+ * nbstripout
+ * xlrd
+ * openpyxl
+ * pangaeapy
+ * bibtextparser
+ * doi2bib
+
+These dependencies will be automatically installed when you install PyleoTUPS.
+