Net-Teams - Bookmark Tag technical writing

There are 16 articles associated with the tag technical writing!

#	Total Bookmarks	Article Title/Link and Description
1.	Bookmarks: 0	New Technical Writer: Use The Persona To Create The Most Useful Section Of Your User Document OVERVIEWA 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 for the most useful section of the User Document. This article describes this procedure.THE MOST USEFUL SECTION OF A USER DOCUMENTThe most useful section of a User Document is the one that helps the User get what he...
2.	Bookmarks: 5	How Poor In-house User Documents Cost You Twice & What To Do About It OVERVIEWMany 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 written, it costs you twice:* The first cost (attributed to any poor user document) is the cost of answering the Users' questions (technical support).* The second cost, arises from the lost time of your employees trying to...
3.	Bookmarks: 0	What Is Freelance Technical Writing? Technical writing requires the ability to write clearly, plainly, and accurately about extremely complicated material. If you can do that—and quickly—then becoming a successful technical writer is well within your grasp.The most common clients for freelance technical writers are educational firms, training companies and manufacturing/electronics/software companies. All of these demand a high volume of documentation-style writing, and thus a high volume of technical writ...
4.	Bookmarks: 0	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 terms of the development and production of the Product itself. When writing User Documentation, consider the U-PLC to help you generate all the topics necessary for a complete document. User Documentation should support y...
5.	Bookmarks: 1	New Technical Writer: Don't Confuse Your Reader With Your Words OVERVIEWStop 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 CONCEPT: SAME WORDSUser Documents are not meant to be entertaining. Do not try to be creative, especially by using synonyms for specific concepts in your product. When you talk about a topic use the exact same wording ...
6.	Bookmarks: 0	How to Succeed as a Technical Writer Here is an article telling you what you need to do to achieve success writing online. Technical writing is a field in existence for many years now. But the internet publication revolution today has made success come right at our doorsteps. There are many thousands of authors who make thousands of dollars every month publishing online. Find out how.
7.	Bookmarks: 0	How To Learn The Art Of Creative Writing The term creative writing is used to discern certain types of inventive or artistic writing from other general types of writing. The field of creative writing is broad and includes many different formats and genres of writing. The broad and general description of it is purposeful in its effort not to limit the imagination of the potential writer, or that of the reader. Creative writing is totally different from other types of writing, such as technical writing, scientific wri...
8.	Bookmarks: 5	Great Technical Writing: Tell Your Users What To Expect OVERVIEWIn 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 technical support.EXAMPLE: REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER FILTERI bought and installed a Reverse Osmosis water filter. The instructions told me to fill, and then empty (the instructions foolishly used the term "dump," which ...
9.	Bookmarks: 4	Great Technical Writing: Sell Your Readers On What's Important OverviewOur 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, and how to correct the problems.Not the Legal & DisclaimersAlthough the Legal and Disclaimer sections of your documentation are important for the protection of your company (and protection of your company should be ...
10.	Bookmarks: 0	Great Technical Writing: Make Your Product Fit OVERVIEWMost 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 remedy these unfortunate situations. The article concludes with some techniques for the writer.BACKGROUNDThere are two important facts that User Documentation ignores:1. Your product is a only minor item in your ...
11.	Bookmarks: 0	Great Technical Writing: Improve Document Searches OVERVIEWSearches 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 in frustration. This article describes a User-friendly technique for improving searches, without having to change the Users' behavior or the search software.YOUR READERS' WORDSPeople use the words that they know whe...
12.	Bookmarks: 0	Great Technical Writing: Beware Of Your Editor/love Your Editor OverviewYour 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 effectively use your editor during the writing process.Beware of Your EditorSome of the changes that an editor might suggest could make the User Document more difficult for your Reader to understand.Improving You...
13.	Bookmarks: 3	Great Technical Writing: Banish These Two Attitudes OverviewIncomplete 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 describes these attitudes and presents methods for overcoming them. The result is more effective User Documents and more satisfied Users.1. "Everyone Knows That"The "Everyone Knows That" attitude makes assumptions about your ...
14.	Bookmarks: 0	Benefits Of Creating User Documents In-House OVERVIEWFor 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 OPTIONSIf you have no in-house writing staff you have three options:1. No User Document for the product. This is NOT a valid option. Every product needs User Documentation. It completes your product package, an...
15.	Bookmarks: 0	Great Technical Writing: Improve Your Readers' Access With A Visual Index OVERVIEWPeople are visual creatures. They look at your product, and see, for example, a button or display. They want to find out about that control or indicator. A Visual Index is a simple but powerful document access tool that enables your Readers to find the information that they want.This article describes the Visual Index concept and tells how to create one for your document.A VISUAL INDEXA Visual Index is a picture of your product or process with links to...
16.	Bookmarks: 5	Not A Term Paper Mill! As a writer for hire, do you accept every job that comes along or do you have definitive and concrete standards?