The Complete Idiot's Guide to Technical Writing

What Is a Technical Writer?
A Growing Community. Where You'll Fit In. Exactly What Does a Tech Writer Do? Can Anyone Be a Tech Writer?
What a Market! The Shortage of Technical Writers. Making a Living. Making a Difference.

Filling Some Big Shoes. A Tech Writer's Day. Turning “GeekSpeak” Into Plain English. Figuring Out What's First and Putting It There. Writing and Maintaining Documents. Understanding How Things Work. Being a Catalyst for Change.
Being Involved in the Design Process. The Technical Writer Is the First End User.

But Can You Write? The “Wow” Factor. “Yes, We Have No Bananas” : Communicating Clearly. “Get It?” “Got It!” Juggling Flaming Sticks. Playing Well with Others.
Getting Along. Saying “No” . Saying “Yes” .
Being Ready, Willing, and Able.

All Roads Can Lead to Tech Writing.
Writer or Techie? Both Can Succeed. The Accidental Tech Writer.
Building a Solid Foundation.
Master the Basics. Learn the Tools.
Proving Yourself.
What's in a Writing Test? Showing Samples. Building a Portfolio.
Recast Your Réesumé.
See Yourself as a Professional. Making the Most of What You Have: Forthe Career Changer.
Let's Discuss Degrees. Why Is It So Hard to Get an Interview? Use a Recruiter. Network, Network, Network. Go to the STC Conference. Winning Interview Tips. Persistence Pays Off.

“A” Is for Accuracy. Completeness Counts.
Make Processes, Documents, and Sets Complete. Completeness Includes Editing and Proofreading. Check for Completeness Early and Often.
Clarity Is in Good Writing. Consistency. Having a Handle on Usability.
Knowing Usability When You See. Time and Money Well-Spent. A Natural Career Path for Tech Writers. Keys to Improving Document Usability.
Will It Fly? Judging Documents. Classifying Your Documents.
When Is a Manual Not a Guide? Defining the Document Content.

Step by Step.
1. Gather Information. 2. Plan. 3. Write. 4. Verify. 5. Redo. Creating a Document Plan. Milestones.

Your First Assignment: Taking Over a Document.
Adopting a Document.
Maintenance and Tune-Ups.
Out with the Old, In with the New. Knowing What Needs Fixing.
How Much Rewriting Should You Do? Where to Begin-A Plan of Attack. If There's No Time.
Break Down Your Schedule. Check Your Progress. No Matter What Happens, Stay Calm.

The Importance of Product Knowledge. Getting to Square One. Product Ins and Outs. Leave a Paper Trail.
Capture Your “Newbie” Experience. Label Notes Clearly. Keep Notes Based on User Tasks.
Ask and Ye Shall Learn.
Become an Expert in the Field. Learn the Specifics. Play Around.
Meet the People Who Can Help You.
Ask to Share the Wealth. Learn About Related or Allied Products.
Take Your Time.

Who Will Read This Document?
Novice User. Power User. Programmer or Software Developer. System Administrator.
Matching the User with the Document Type. Fine-Tuning What You Know.
What Is My User's Job Title? What Is My User's Job Function? What Tasks Is the User Performing with This Program? How Will the Reader Use the Document? And How Often? How Does the Product Help the User? What Possible Problems Might the User Encounter? How Computer Literate Is the User? How Educated Is the User? Is English the User's Native Language?
Same Software, Different Users.
The Home User. The Technical User. The Big-Spending User…Er, the Task-Oriented User.
Dancing Cheek-to-Cheek. When There's No Face-to-Face Contact. What If the User Is Highly Technical?

Determining Content.
Description-Based: What the Product Does. Task-Based: What the User Does.
Gathering Information.
Task-Based Documents. Description-Based Documents. Interviewing SMEs.
Keeping Up.
Patience and Persistence: Eyes on the Prize.

Jump Right In, the Water's Fine. In the Beginning: Creating a Document Outline.
Outline Format. Shuffling the Virtual Index Cards.
Drafting Your Draft. The Hipbone's Connected to the Leg Bone: Fleshing Out the Outline. How Fast Is “On Time” ? Battling Writer's Block.

Getting Feedback.
Confirming Information. Showing What's Still Needed.
Choosing Reviewers. Preparing the Draft for Review.
Include a Cover Sheet. Be Firm About Return Dates.
Conducting the Review.
The Tabletop Review. The Distributed Copies Review. The Electronic Review.
Who's On First, What's On Second.
Consolidating Reviewer Feedback. Resolving Conflicting Feedback.
Once More, with Feeling.

About Front Matter.
Copyright Information. Table of Contents. Introduction. Typographical Conventions.
About Back Matter.
Appendixes. Glossaries. The Index.

Why an Index?
It Helps You Find Your Way. But Doesn't the Table of Contents Do That?
Why Everyone Hates Indexing.
Another Document's Markers.
What Makes a Good Index.
Knowing What the User Wants. Descriptive Entries. No Dead Ends. Seeing Is Believing.
Creating an Index.
Manual vs. Computer Indexing. Some Rules for Indexing. Common Indexing Errors.
Master Indexes.

Rewriting and Editing.
How Much Is Enough? Keep Things Moving. Editing Your Own Work. Editing Another Writer's Work. Proofreading. Making Proofreading Easier.
Testing the Document.
Document Testing on a (Time) Budget. A Testing Checklist. A Final Document Checklist.
Freezing the Document.
Collecting Post-Freeze Changes. Don't Thaw-Add On.
Handing Off the Final Deliverables.

User Documentation: The User's Main Course.
Standard User's Guides. “Getting Started” Guides. Tutorials. Quick Reference Cards. Introductions. Installation Manuals. Release Notes. Troubleshooting Manuals. The Heavyweights. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Reference Guides. Specifications. System Administrator Guides.
“Oh, and Could You Write This, Too…?”

“You Can Have It Good, Fast, or Cheap: Pick Two” .
What Do They Really Mean? Battling the Inner Perfectionist. When Speed Is of the Essence. Working with Contractors.
Planning an Entire Project.
Considering the Medium. A Bit About Scheduling. Project Scope: How Wide Is Big? How High Is Up?
Calculating Time.
Size, Scope, and Quality.
Working Backward: Planning the Schedule.

What Is a Style Guide and What Does It Do?
Style and Speed. Guideline or Requirement?
Why Consistency Is Important.
Follow the Bouncing Word. For Me to Know and You to Find Out. “Elegant Variation” Doesn't Improve Style.
Classic Styles. Creating a Style Guide.
The Mini Style Guide. Just Another Technical Document. How Do You Know Which Style Is “Right” ?

Best Writing Practices.
Respect the Reader. Active Voice: Don't Worry, Be Active. Commas: Dangerous Punctuation-The Serial Comma. Emphasis: We Really Mean It. Gender-Neutral Language: He Said, She Said. Humor: Funny Is as Funny Does. Imperatives: That's an Order. Negatives: Let's Be Positive, People. Paragraph Length: Six Is Enough. Parallel Structure: No Surprises. Present Tense: Be Here Now. Second Person: Yes, You…. Should: Should You or Shouldn't You?
KISS-Keep It Short and Simple.
Call a Spade a Spade (Not a “Manually Operated Multipurpose Soil Manipulation Instrument” ). Learning from Simplified English. Simple as 1, 2, 3: Writing Procedures.
Divided by a Common Language: The International Audience.

The Tools.
The Many Tasks of a Tech Writer. Tools, Wonderful Tools!
Your Computer Is Your Best Friend.
The Value of Being Familiar with UNIX. …and Linux. Leave the Apples at Home.
Writing Tools Must Fit Your Project.
Desktop Publishing. Word Processing Programs. Choosing the Program That's Right for You.
Graphics Tools Illustrate Your Points.
Image Files. Screen Captures. Photo-Retouching Programs. Drawing Programs.
Online Tools Launch You into Cyberspace.
Creating PDFs. HTML Editors. Web Development. SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language). XML (extensible Markup Language).
Help Tools Mean Really Ready Reference. Wrapping It Up.

Whose Job Is It, Anyway?
Get Help When You Can.
Enhance Document Usability with Visual Elements. See How Others Have Done It. Page Setup.
Page Size. Margins.
Bindings. Page Layout and Design.
Column Width. Color Me Interesting.
Just My Type: Mastering Typography.
Avoid Hyphenation. Type Talk. Cutting to the Chase. Headings. Body Text. Developing Your Layout.
Tables and Figures.
Use Meaningful Graphics.
Online Design and Distribution.
PDF Documents. WWW Files.

Virtual Verbiage.
Online Help. Web-Based Documentation. CD-ROM Documentation. Computer-Based Training. When Online Help Is No Help. What's Different About Reading Documentation Online? What's Different About Writing Online Documentation?
Single-Sourcing. Getting to WWWork.
Planning. Implementing. Verifying and Redoing.

Consultant or Captive?
You Say Consultant, I Say Contractor. The Best of Both Worlds. Free Agents. The “Bottom Line” Is on a Tax Form.
Can You Really Work Without Getting Out of Your Bathrobe?
Discipline? Me? A Time to Rest and a Time to Work. That “Hermit” Feeling. When the Walls Start Closing In. All These Problems Have Solutions. There's Still No Place Like Home. About Telecommuting. How to Work Off-Site and Still Be a Team Member.

The “Dark” Side of Technical Writing.
Choose Your Deadline: Aggressive or Insane? Documentation Always Comes Last. When You've Got to Pull a Rabbit Out of a Hat. Changes, Changes, Changes. TakeControl.
“I Don't Get No Respect” . Working with Problem People. You're Doing All the Work While Someone Else Gets the Credit.
Who Owns the Documentation? How Proprietary Is Proprietary Information? Getting Samples for Your Portfolio.
The Light Side of Tech Writing.

Where Do You Go from Here?
A Junior Technical Writer Job Description. A Technical Writer Job Description. A Senior Technical Writer Job Description. Documentation Manager. Moving Up. Moving Out. Moving Into Another Field.
Keeping Your Knowledge Current. Networking Doesn't Stop Just Because You're Employed.
Join Professional Organizations. Go to STC Meetings. Join the TECHWR-L Mailing List.