Technical writing overview
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Contents |
[edit] The most universal and important technical concepts in the level one course
Later courses deal with the subject:
- Business analysis
- Documentation management
- Other advanced topics.
[edit] What is the difference between a Technical Writer and a Technical Communicator?
- A Technical Writer is the old term. A Technical Writer writes documents
- A Technical Communicator is the new American term for the same job acknowledging that the writer needs to create and modify diagrams
- The Czech term for the job is Dokumentarista
[edit] Technical writers produce written and visual information for customers.
[edit] Technical writers write the following types of document
- To design and improve the product
- Requirement specifications
- Development requests
- Change requests
- To sell the product
- Technical and product briefs
- Product brochures
- Web sites
- Press releases
- To help the customer administer the product
- User guides
- Configuration guides
- Administration guides
- Datasheets
- Maintenance and troubleshooting guides that show the administrator and experienced user how to configure and troubleshoot the product
- To help the staff of the customer operate the product
- Use-case based tutorials
- Step-by-step task lists
- Online help in CHM or HTML
- To test and install the product
- Test cases
- UAT test cases
- Installation guides
- Requirement Specifications document the needs, goals, and environment of the users of the software.
- Design documents describe the workings and interactions of the system.
- Control documents communicate project standards, configuration, schedule and work tasks.
- Test cases detail the required functionality.
Documentation management includes:
- Cost and schedule estimating
- Complex documentation project administration
- Setting standards and procedures
- Information management
[edit] What are Technical writers like?
- Technical writers enjoy learning and reading
- Technical writers like communicating
- Technical writers are creative
- Technical writers find writing comfortable, but revise their work many times
[edit] What tools do Technical writers use?
A technical writer's primary tool is language. A Technical writer also uses
- Word processors
- Web tools
- Graphics packages
- Content management systems (CMS)
- Wiki
- Confluence
- Madcap Flare
[edit] The Essential Skills of a Technical Writer
These skills are important:
1. The ability to use a computer
It is possible to write manuals with just paper and a pen. Most products include software
2. The ability to write clearly
Technical writers
- Study complicated things
- Remove all doubt about a subject
- Explain them in simple terms
- Add diagrams or screenshots
- Define abbreviations
- Avoid
- Passive sentences (e.g. "Mistakes have been made.")
- Long constructions
3. The ability to show ideas graphically
If you show an idea with a picture or diagram, then the reader understands the concepts better.
4. The ability to Listen
You must listen carefully to the experts and then express their concepts.
[edit] Basic Technical Writing
The Wikipedia definition of Technical Communication :
Use a tool to create online content. Examples of these are:
- RoboHelp
- Madcap Flare for help files
- a web authoring tool for making web pages
- Javadoc, Docomatic
- XML with DocBook to create online help.
Explore how Wiki can be used for delivering user-oriented instructions.
[edit] What you do next
Complete this course, and create a portfolio to create opportunities and you can begin a career in technical communications.
back to Technical Writing Level 1
Technical Writers communicate ideas. They design information, participate in the product development process, and manage complex documentation projects. Beginning software technical writers are often responsible for communications between the developers and the end-users of the software.
Business writing skills are useful for technical writers. All technical writers must write clearly, and communicate well with specialists. In fact, the field of Technical Writing is so vast it can be hard to define exactly what it is. This is why this set of lessons concentrates mostly on technical writing for the software industry.
Beginning Technical Writers produce the following types of documents:
As you advance in your career you may find yourself writing more advanced documents:
As you can see, there is a lot of room to learn and grow in the profession of technical writing.
[edit] References
How to edit Wiki
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