diff --git a/docs/api.rst b/docs/api.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ef42fced
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/api.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+API reference
+=============
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 2
+
+    compression/index
+    filter/index
+    other/index
+    checksum32
+    abc
+    registry
diff --git a/docs/checksum32.rst b/docs/checksum32.rst
index 5b2013f8..6f255141 100644
--- a/docs/checksum32.rst
+++ b/docs/checksum32.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-32-bit checksums
-================
+Checksum codecs
+===============
 .. automodule:: numcodecs.checksum32
 
 CRC32
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ JenkinsLookup3
 --------------
 
 .. autoclass:: JenkinsLookup3
-    
+
     .. autoattribute:: codec_id
     .. autoattribute:: initval
     .. autoattribute:: prefix
diff --git a/docs/blosc.rst b/docs/compression/blosc.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/blosc.rst
rename to docs/compression/blosc.rst
diff --git a/docs/bz2.rst b/docs/compression/bz2.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/bz2.rst
rename to docs/compression/bz2.rst
diff --git a/docs/gzip.rst b/docs/compression/gzip.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/gzip.rst
rename to docs/compression/gzip.rst
diff --git a/docs/compression/index.rst b/docs/compression/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ba8434d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/compression/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+Compression codecs
+------------------
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 2
+
+    blosc
+    bz2
+    gzip
+    lzma
+    lz4
+    pcodec
+    zfpy
+    zlib
+    zstd
diff --git a/docs/lz4.rst b/docs/compression/lz4.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/lz4.rst
rename to docs/compression/lz4.rst
diff --git a/docs/lzma.rst b/docs/compression/lzma.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/lzma.rst
rename to docs/compression/lzma.rst
diff --git a/docs/pcodec.rst b/docs/compression/pcodec.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/pcodec.rst
rename to docs/compression/pcodec.rst
diff --git a/docs/zfpy.rst b/docs/compression/zfpy.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/zfpy.rst
rename to docs/compression/zfpy.rst
diff --git a/docs/zlib.rst b/docs/compression/zlib.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/zlib.rst
rename to docs/compression/zlib.rst
diff --git a/docs/zstd.rst b/docs/compression/zstd.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/zstd.rst
rename to docs/compression/zstd.rst
diff --git a/docs/astype.rst b/docs/filter/astype.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/astype.rst
rename to docs/filter/astype.rst
diff --git a/docs/bitround.rst b/docs/filter/bitround.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/bitround.rst
rename to docs/filter/bitround.rst
diff --git a/docs/categorize.rst b/docs/filter/categorize.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/categorize.rst
rename to docs/filter/categorize.rst
diff --git a/docs/delta.rst b/docs/filter/delta.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/delta.rst
rename to docs/filter/delta.rst
diff --git a/docs/fixedscaleoffset.rst b/docs/filter/fixedscaleoffset.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/fixedscaleoffset.rst
rename to docs/filter/fixedscaleoffset.rst
diff --git a/docs/filter/index.rst b/docs/filter/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c6bfa4db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/filter/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+Filter codecs
+-------------
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 2
+
+    delta
+    fixedscaleoffset
+    quantize
+    bitround
+    packbits
+    categorize
+    astype
+    shuffle
diff --git a/docs/packbits.rst b/docs/filter/packbits.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/packbits.rst
rename to docs/filter/packbits.rst
diff --git a/docs/quantize.rst b/docs/filter/quantize.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/quantize.rst
rename to docs/filter/quantize.rst
diff --git a/docs/shuffle.rst b/docs/filter/shuffle.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/shuffle.rst
rename to docs/filter/shuffle.rst
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index d6c9818a..cce02f0c 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -64,30 +64,7 @@ Contents
 .. toctree::
     :maxdepth: 2
 
-    abc
-    registry
-    blosc
-    pcodec
-    lz4
-    zfpy
-    zstd
-    zlib
-    gzip
-    bz2
-    lzma
-    delta
-    fixedscaleoffset
-    quantize
-    bitround
-    packbits
-    categorize
-    checksum32
-    astype
-    json
-    pickles
-    msgpacks
-    vlen
-    shuffle
+    api
     release
     contributing
 
diff --git a/docs/other/index.rst b/docs/other/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0ebcbdcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/other/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+Other codecs
+------------
+
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 2
+
+    json
+    pickles
+    msgpacks
+    vlen
diff --git a/docs/json.rst b/docs/other/json.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/json.rst
rename to docs/other/json.rst
diff --git a/docs/msgpacks.rst b/docs/other/msgpacks.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/msgpacks.rst
rename to docs/other/msgpacks.rst
diff --git a/docs/pickles.rst b/docs/other/pickles.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/pickles.rst
rename to docs/other/pickles.rst
diff --git a/docs/vlen.rst b/docs/other/vlen.rst
similarity index 100%
rename from docs/vlen.rst
rename to docs/other/vlen.rst
diff --git a/docs/release.rst b/docs/release.rst
index 1d8a2d41..a3b47185 100644
--- a/docs/release.rst
+++ b/docs/release.rst
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ Enhancements
   By :user:`Ryan Abernathey <rabernat>`, :issue:`501`.
 * Use PyData theme for docs
   By :user:`John Kirkham <jakirkham>`, :issue:`485`.
+* Improve the structure of docs
+  By :user:`David Stansby <dstansby>`, :issue:`458`.
 
 Fix
 ~~~