24th August 2007
OVERVIEW
You're a non-writer who has just been assigned to write the User Documentation for your company's new product. Your overwhelming emotion is fear, perhaps with some anger.
With any new activity there will be some anxiety. Writing may hav...
02nd August 2007
OVERVIEW
Many organizations produce in-house tools or modify commercially-available tools for their own use. These tools should get documented so they are of use to others in the organization.
If this documentation is not created or is poorly writ...
01st July 2007
OVERVIEW
Most heading are designed to entice us to read further. Headings in User Documents should enable your Reader to decide whether or not to continue reading that section. Use effective headings to make it easy for your Reader to access and unde...
10th May 2007
OVERVIEW
For small companies, creating their product's User Documentation in-house, provides benefits to the company, to (idle) staff, and to the product. This article describes the benefits and some downsides of producing User Documents in-house.
...
18th April 2007
OVERVIEW
Lost or garbled information is a terrible waste. Especially if it's the information you gathered from an interview and must now write into your User Document. Here's how to prevent that waste.
THE SITUATION
You had an interview with a ...
14th March 2007
OVERVIEW
Searches in User Documents (manuals, etc.) often fail because the Reader uses different words for a concept than the author uses. Since the Reader's words do not appear in the document, the document search mechanism cannot find them, resulting...
12th March 2007
OVERVIEW
A good User Document includes sections on how to set up, use, and care for the product. However, to create a great User Document , the technical writer should use the Persona, generated in the analysis of the User/Reader, to create the topics...
08th March 2007
OVERVIEW
To create an effective User Document, the writer must know who he/she is writing for. This article presents four dimensions (Skills, Attitude, Knowledge and Experience) for describing the User of your product (your Documentation Reader), and ...
15th February 2007
OVERVIEW
Most product documentation sounds like their product is the only thing in the User's life. Such thinking results in User confusion and dissatisfaction. This article presents three real-life examples of this attitude, and what should be done ...
27th January 2007
Overview
When we write User Documents we rely on our Reader's/User's experience to simplify our work. This can cause problems for the Reader. This article will discuss the effects of Reader experience and how to minimize the negative effects of incomp...
27th January 2007
Overview
Our humdrum, sterile headings and writing manner do little to encourage our Users to read parts of the product documentation that would be especially beneficial for them. This article presents two real-world examples, how they fail their user...
16th November 2006
Overview
Your product's unexplained features can turn into costly flaws. This article describes three real-world products with just such "features." It presents ways you can prevent these feature-to-flaw conversions by improving the User Documentation ...
17th October 2006
Overview
Your editor should be an integral part of your writing team. Do not think of him/her as a judge, but rather as a resource to help you in all phases of the writing project. This article will help you overcome any fear of your editor, and how ...
04th October 2006
Overview
Incomplete User Documents disappoint your Readers. Two attitudes of many Technical Writers result in incomplete User Documents. These two attitudes are:
. "Everyone Knows That", and
. "The User Can Figure It Out"
This article describ...
26th September 2006
Product documentation gives the feeling that nobody has ever used the product. Most documentation:
. Ignores the product's failings (warts), and how to overcome them.
. Leaves out tips that would improve the User's experience with the product
. L...
