Technical Documentation Short and Sweet: The Best Best Practices for Creating Clear and Useful Manuals, Help Systems, and Other Forms of User Assistance

Do you want to make the user manuals or online help systems of your products stand out from those of your competitors but don't have the time to study a dozen all-embracing textbooks about technical writing before getting down to work? This book provides you with a compilation of those best practices that are going to make a real difference. You get hands-on advice and simple, catchy examples-free from theoretical elaborations, highbrow grammar terms, and other shoptalk. The book is exemplary for what you need to achieve as well: deliver the essential information on as few pages as possible in a clear and simple form. Topics covered: Structuring principles, including building topics, establishing headings, and determining the best possible order of information Layout and formatting essentials General technical writing rules Rules for building sections Rules for building sentences Plain language Grammar and word choice FAQ Creating images of hardware and software Video design