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Writing Well For The Web
If you expect your potential clients to read the texts on your site, be especially particular about the content. Writing for the web has its own peculiarities in comparison with common publications. It is known that 79% Internet users just skip over the
New Technical Writer: Use The Persona To Create The Most Useful Section Of Your User Document
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 f
Tags: Technical Writing, User Manual, Documentation, New Writer, Writing
New Technical Writer: The Four Dimensions Of Your User/reader
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 how
Tags: Technical Writing, User Manual, Documentation, New Writer, Writing
New Technical Writer: Have No Fear Of Writing
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 have added
Tags: Writing, New Writer, Technical Writing, User Document, Writing
New Technical Writer: Don't Confuse Your Reader With Your Words
OVERVIEW Stop confusing your Reader with the words you use. Your Reader is trying his/her best to understand how your product works without having to figure out your writing. Here are some writing guidelines to help you stop baffling your Reader. SAME C
Tags: New Writer, Technical Writing, User Document, Manual, Confusion, Writing
New Technical Writer: Avoiding The Interview-writing Disconnect
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 Subjec
Tags: Technical, Writing, User Documents, New Writer, Tips, Problems, Writing
Great Technical Writing: The User-Product Life Cycle - A Documentation Tool
The User-Product Life Cycle (U-PLC) is a powerful tool for the User Document writer. Use the U-PLC to generate the high-level topics for your User Document. THE USER-PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE (U-PLC) Usually, when we think of a Product Life Cycle, we think in
Tags: Writing, User Document, Topics, User Manual, How To Write, Writing
Great Technical Writing: The Two-edged Sword Of Reader Experience
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 incompati
Tags: Technical Writing User Manual Instruction Document Assumptions Experience, Writing
Great Technical Writing: Tell Your Users What To Expect
OVERVIEW In your User Documentation, you direct your Reader to perform tasks with your product. If you don't tell your Reader what to expect when performing those tasks, you will have a baffled Reader, resulting in dissatisfaction and expensive calls to
Tags: User Documentation, New Writer, Writing, User Manuals, How To Write, Writing
Great Technical Writing: Sell Your Readers On What's Important
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 users,
Tags: Writing, User, Documents, Manual, Instruction, Guide, Technical Writing, Writing
Great Technical Writing: Make Your Product Fit
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 to r
Tags: Technical Writing, User Documentation, User Manual, Writing
Great Technical Writing: Improve Document Searches
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 i
Tags: Technical Writing, User Documents, Document Search, Writing
Great Technical Writing: Beware Of Your Editor/love Your Editor
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 to e
Tags: Editor, Improve Writing, Editing User Manual, Editing, Writing
Great Technical Writing: Banish These Two Attitudes
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 arti
Tags: Technical Writing, User Manual, Instruction Document, Writing
Benefits Of Creating User Documents In-House
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. THREE
Tags: User Document, Writing, User Manual, New Writers, Technical Writing, Writing