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Golden Rules For Technical Documentation by Steven Roberts
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Golden Rules For Technical Documentation |
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Education
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Technical Writing is documenting the complex articles in a very simpler, crisp, clear and concise manner which a layman can understand. The aim of Technical Writing is to make the documents easily understandable by the audience and also to change the way people tend to do certain things currently. Technical Writing helps in following the instructions especially the technical procedures in a more precise manner. Technical writers use tools such as Robo help, Frame Maker, Dream weaver and also to an extent HTML while making the documentation. We have been working on some thoughts about what, how and why we are writing a document. We have come up with few golden rules, which help technical writers to deliver an informative and well-scripted document. Always keep in mind technical writers "Write to inform, not to impress!" Following are some of the golden rules, which each tech writer should follow: Rule 1: Be Clear Be clear in your content and think about the real objective of your content. Avoid using phrases and cliches that do not mean anything. Avoid proprietary words that may puzzle the audience and the end-users. Rule 2: Be Brief Try to avoid the stuffing contents such as welcome message or overly long instructional text for online forms. Cut your text in half and shorten paragraphs. Rule 3: Be Creative Try to be innovative, use a diverse way of representing message, other than paragraphs or texts. Instead of boring paragraphs of text and titles, use billboards, charts, and infographics. These might encourage users to stick with your document. Step 4: Be Compelling Know your audience, be excited, be confident, and be bold. Use words that resonate with your audience. Rule 5: Mind Your Grammar and Spellings Spellings and grammar distracts users from the message in the content. Always try to implement one idea per paragraph. Rule 6: Use Templates Usage of templates enables easier content development, easier gathering of content and makes content consistent. Pay for quality documentation and your users will be happy. Carefully consider the document formatting, spelling and grammar. Technical Writing is booming in the current world. A technical writer has a lot of growth. Technical writers don't need to have good communication, since the tech writer usually interacts with the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to get the documents completed, also probe the SMEs to get the appropriate information that is required for the development of the technical documents. Black and White believes that every thought contributes to better documentation; which is why it insists on brainstorming sessions at the start of every project and senior and junior writers are encouraged to participate alike. It provides an ideal working environment that promotes creativity and professionalism. dissertation writing
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