Random Things I've Learned While Writing Tech Docs
A short, random list of things I've learned while writing technical documentation.
Here are some random things I've learned while writing technical
documentation:
- When talking about concepts, using singulars makes for clearer
reading than using multiples. For example, rather than composing a
sentence like this:
"Applications built with foobar may be frobnobbed using fleebars."
It's usually clearer to say something like:
"An application built using a foobar can be frobnbbed using a
fleebar."
Personally, I find keeping to the singular keeps things concrete,
and prevents the text from careening into the abstract too quickly.
- Don't be afraid to repeat yourself. Use pronouns sparingly. For
example, it's often clearer to say: "The cat sleeps on the sofa.
The cat is a tommy" rather than "The cat sleeps on the sofa. It is
a tommy." Is the cat or the the sofa a tommy? The first form is
repetitive, but it's crystal clear that the cat is a tommy.
- Examples beat any amount of purely narrative explanation.
Created by
chrism
Last modified
2009-07-02 11:35 PM