Technical Writing Blog

Usability is a term widely used in web and software development. But it can be applied to nearly anything humans interact with. Or even non-humans. Cats, for example, would tell a lot about usability of automatic feeders, smart litter boxes, or scratching posts if they could talk. So, this is quite a universal concept, really….

The 11 most common technical writing mistakes we hope you don’t make, let’s go! Poor Design/Layout This is the first thing we are going to discuss and this is not by accident. Actually, the visual side of things is the first point of focus for your readers. You cannot undo the first impression. You probably…

Do you have any second thoughts when spelling out things like two million three hundred thousand kilos? Or, on the contrary, when you prefer numerals in sentences like: Creating a new documentation portal will take you no longer than 1 minute! These sentences are grammatically correct, but something seems off with how numerals are expressed….

We recently posted an article on using parallelism in technical writing and this was kind of thought-provoking. Parallel structure is one of the most commonly used literary devices and while its role is a bit different in literature and help authoring, it proves to be useful in both fields. So, in this article, we are…

Developing good habits and getting rid of the bad ones is something that applies not only to our personal lives but our careers as well. Today we’d like to talk about good habits that technical writers can work on to improve performance and prevent burnouts. Behold! These habits will change things for the better. Creating…

Parallel structure, also called parallelism or parallel construction, is something you are likely to remember from school. Parallel structure in writing means that sentences or elements within sentences have a similar grammar pattern. Such repetition serves several purposes. In literature, it is often a means to draw a reader’s attention to a particular situation, certain…

Does authoring help topics make you an author? We believe it does. And although maybe everything you are creating along the lines of technical documentation becomes the property of the company you are working for, it is more about how you are perceiving yourself. The market is demanding, even on this blog, we are often…

You will certainly meet people in this world who say things like ‘I don’t care how this user manual looks as long as it is well-written and contains answers to my questions.’ It is great to know that some people are this practical and able to look past the visual side of things. However, people…

When a customer opens a user manual, the idea that the text is lying or it is trying to manipulate them will hardly ever cross their mind. Who would want to lie in technical documentation and why? The grim statement proclaiming that everybody lies proves to be true yet again. Here’s what technical writers lie…

While technical documentation is mostly associated with text, it is much more than this. Without visual content technical texts are boring and hard to comprehend. Using diagrams in help topics is a great way to improve your content. However, you need to remember that with diagrams less is often more; they are extremely helpful, but…