Do you provide an index for your online documents? I’m not sure if today’s customers actually want an index. Maybe they prefer to search. Of course, not everyone agrees with me. Lori Lathrop, author of An Indexer’s Guide to the Internet, helps firms index their technical publications for software, manufacturing, and science. She highlights four […]
The length of the topic title, i.e. the number of characters, needs to be considered when creating topics for online help. Let’s say you’re creating different topics in RoboHelp. Procedures, reference, and conceptual materials. Each of these needs an intuitive and meaningful name. That makes sense. However, you also need to consider the length of the topic […]
I’ve used the same technical writing tools for the last 5 years. A few products have come across my desk but nothing that really blown me away. Here’s a run-down of what I use to write my technical documents. No order of preference. Which should I keep? Which should I replace?
Robohelp or Doc-to-Help? My client has given me permission to use whatever tool I want to do the next batch of tech docs — and they’ll buy the software. No cost to me. Which one should I choose? Robohelp or Doc-to-Help Doc-to-Help was the first help authoring tool (HAT) I used in my technical writing […]
Check out the excellent Harry Miller’s Technical Writing Blog Podcasts about documentation, technical writing, and technical editing. http://blogs.msdn.com/harrymiller/default.aspx
For Indian readers considering tech writing as a career, download this free podcast with Sandeep Balakrishna, a seasoned technical writer based in Bangalore, India.“He has been a technical writer for 10 years, and has observed the explosive growth of technical writing in India. According to Google Trends, seven of the top ten cities where the […]