Have you ever read a user guide and wondered what goes on its preparation??? There are lots of processes that are to be taken care to make it readable for the user. For a person who is preparing a user guide, here are some of the points that need to be followed for good user documentation:
Identify the user:
Know the user who would be using the product and know about the extent to which they would be using the product. Give information that will help the user understand the product functionality rather that expressing the knowledge that you hold on the product.
Avoid using words that are too technical:
Using words that are too technical might confuse the user. Use simpler sentences that are easy to understand by a layman. The user need not necessarily be a techie. So create a document keeping the end user in mind.
Have a task-oriented approach:
Write about a product keeping in mind the various functions that can be performed using the product. Functionality understanding is the main key for any product. Write your document giving step wise process for each function.
Understand the flow of the product:
Before beginning to write, understand the flow in which the product would be moving. Analyze which function should be put in first and which should be followed thereafter. Do not write in such a pattern that would confuse the user about how to navigate through the product.
Illustrate one idea at a time:
Do not convey multiple ideas in a single sentence. Break your ideas into small parts and write simple, short and crisp sentences. The more complex your writing style, the more disinterested would be the audience to read your content. It is always better to convey the idea in a clear step wise process. This will allow the user to follow the product conveniently.
Give a comprehensive and well structured Table of Contents (TOC):
If your document has a Table of contents, the user would navigate to this section first to search for sections that he would be navigating through. If the layout of your TOC is good enough, the user will automatically have a positive view about the document. Add all the necessary sections and sub-sections in the TOC. However, don’t make it look too clumsy.
Give appropriate titles, headings and captions (for figures):
The title, heading or sub heading should convey the most appropriate idea about a particular module of your product. They should be meaningful. Similarly, give correct caption under each figure, graphics, etc. These are added efforts but they create a good impression on the document.
Write in a way as you are talking to the user:
Never use words as “should”, “please”, “him/her” in your document. Write as if you are talking to the user on how to use the product but in the most professional way. Avoid using oral communication when writing a guide. Be very specific on how you present your idea.
Use correct font, style and format for your document:
Using the most correct font and style are very crucial in documentation. The first thing that a user sees when opening a document is whether the format of the document would make it readable for him/her. Using too small font or too large font is inappropriate. Similarly using styles that are unprofessional irritates the user. Create your style using Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman. These are mostly used. Make your document look clean and tidy.
Use images and graphics:
Users, now-a-days, are not happy with documents that have only text. Document without images are not appealing to them. An image attracts a user’s attention to further the reading. Add flowcharts, images, pictorial representation, etc to your document. It will keep up the interest of the user.
Edit and Review your document:
Before the final release of the document, make sure that proper editing has been done and that they are reviewed well. Documents with spelling mistakes, incorrect punctuation, wrong syntax and unstructured format create a bad impression on the user. Make sure that the document is all perfect before it reaches the user.
Today Technical Writing has become one of the most flourishing and promising careers. Be it a graduate in English or bachelors in Engineering, a vast diversity in terms of qualification is found among people opting this as a career.
Technical Writers are people who would derive knowledge from the people who are specialist/expert in a particular technology and convey it to people who would like to know about the technology without going much into the complexities. So, basically a Technical Writer is expected to have an aptitude towards knowing various technologies as well as having good writing skills. And this is not an end line. You are supposed to have a good analyzing, documenting and designing skills. A Technical writer is supposed to write documents that are good at layout, easy to understand, as well as can be updated with much ease.
I have listed some of the basic skills for a technical writer that are required to get into the profession:
Writing skills: If you are someone who likes writing, then this career option is suitable for you. A technical writer needs to be good at grammar, punctuation and syntax. The document that you would prepare should be error-free from spelling and grammar mistakes.
Analyzing Skills: Technical Writers are not people who would simply put down their own thoughts and start documenting. If you are someone who can extract the most important information from a heap of documents and resources, frame it and interpret it in the simplest way, then you are at the right profession.
Adaptable to Technology Change: Technical Writers are by default expected to be adaptable with the technology change. You work for a specific technology for a certain period of time. As you move yourself to some other domain, you should be willing to learn about the prevailing technology of the concerned organization.
Know the Software Tool: This is one of the most important factors if you want your work to execute smoothly and effectively. Knowing the software tool is one of the most crucial things. Even if you have good writing and analyzing skills, creating a Help File in a particular output format would require that you should be a master of the tool which produces the desired output. The Help Authoring Tools have incorporated many advanced features that a particular task can be accomplished with much ease if you are familiar and proficient on how to use it.
Some of the important tools that are basically used in Technical Writings are:
Microsoft Word: This is the most powerful and easy tool for a Technical Writer. Know the basics of creating Styles, TOC, Cross References, Headers and Footers to make a simplified user document.
RoboHelp: Using this tool you can produce various outputs for a single document as Printed doc, Online help, Web Help, HTML Help, AIR Help etc. It is basically used for Online Help output generation.
Frame Maker: Produces the output same as the RoboHelp. However, it has some advanced features that manage lengthy manuals as the Aeronautical Manuals etc.
Snagit: It is basically used for taking screenshots with a better resolution.
MS Visio: Used for producing flow charts in a much easier and effective way.
For someone who would just be starting as a career in Technical Writing, these skills are enough to give a head start to their career. With the years of experience more and more technologies and advancement of Technical Writing will be added up. The learning curve fir a Technical Writer is never ending.
Insert Captions in Word 2010:
Go to the Reference Ribbon and click Insert Caption.
In the caption dialog, under Options choose Label as figures, table or equations. Select Position as “Below selected item” or “Above Selected Item”.
Selecting Exclude label from caption will not include the label in the Caption textbox.
You can also name the label of your choice. Click New Label, enter a name for the label and click OK.
You can also delete the label that is created by selecting the particular label and clicking Delete Label (only labels that are created by the users can be deleted).
Click Numbering. The Caption Numbering dialog will be displayed. Choose a format and click OK.
If you wish to include chapter number in the caption, select the checkbox Include chapter number.
Select the style in which the chapter was formatted from the drop-down box.
Click Use separator to choose from a range of separator to be included between the format type and chapter number. The various separators available are hyphen, period, colon, em-dash, en-dash.
Insert Cross-References in Word 2010:
Cross-reference is used when you want the user to refer from one part of the document to the other. However, it happens within the same document.
First of all select the text, figure or object that you want to cross reference to. Suppose for the given diagram I want to refer to the heading at the end of the figure so that they have an idea on what the figure is all about.
Keep the cursor where you would want the reference to appear. Go to the Reference Ribbon and click Cross-reference.
The Cross-reference dialog appears. Select the Reference type from the options as numbered item, figure, heading, bookmark, footnote, endnote, table and equation.
Select the Insert reference to corresponding to the reference type selected.
Select the checkbox Insert as hyperlink if you want the cross-reference to be hyperlinked.
Select For which caption to select the specified reference type.
Click Insert. The cross reference will be inserted. The cross-reference appears at the end of the diagram.
You may shorten the long heading and give it a short name.
In the given figure, when you click on Note, it will take you to the top of the page.
Iphone is one of the most popular Smartphone in current days. In India also, it is having the good popularity as a smart phone. One of the reasons of its popularity is its app store which is having great collection of applications and games. They are uploading latest applications and games every day in great quantity.
So let’s talk about few useful and free applications from Apple’s app store. I have listed few useful applications which are specially made for Indians. So if you are Iphone owner from India, then you should have all of them. Important thing is that all are free of cost and you can get them just by searching their name in the Apple’s app store.
IPL 5 (Indian Premium League) – For Cricket Lover:
Let me start with IPL application. I don’t think I need to explain more about this name, as it is already quite famous. It is all about Indian premium league. This software will give all the latest information, score details and team details for the IPL 5 which is about to start in the next month. So this application is quite best for all cricket lover and IPL lover. With this software, they will able to get in touch with every details of this upcoming IPL.
My City Way – For Local City Information:
This software is very cool for getting local information of various cities. You can select your own local city or else in this software and this software will provide all important and general information about that city instantly. This will provide information about night life of your city, Restaurants, Hotels, Coffee bar, Theaters with show time, Rail Ticket Information, Airports, Wifi Zone and many more. So you can imagine how much this software can be useful, if we are in some unknown city or even in our own city.
Money Control –For Stock Market:
This software is from famous stock market related channel TV 18. This software is all related with stock marketing. So it is a great application for those who are working in stock market or who are interested in stock market. It contains all information about local Indian stock market, Commodity market and also world stock market. Another great thing is that you can watch live CNBC TV 18 and CNBC AWAAZ business channels for free. So this is totally business related software.
All India Radio – For Music Lovers:
This software is for all music lovers. This software can stream different online radio stations. It contains all famous radios stations of different language in India. With this software you can hear AM/FM radio stations and also you can record those songs on your IOS device. So with this software you will never get bored and can hear latest and old songs anytime. It is the best one for music lovers.
TOI (Times of India) – For News:
Times of India having huge fan list in India. Many people are reading this news paper daily. How about getting it on your Iphone? Yes with this software you will get all the latest news from the Times of India paper. This software is from Times of India itself so you will never miss any news from this great media. Just one click and you will get the news from all over the world. So this software is quite good for those who love to get in touch with the all kind of latest news.
So hear ends my list. There are still lots of useful software available on app store. But this is my favorite and surely all of them are quite helpful. If you are an Iphone owner and if you are Indian then surely you should go for these software as all of them are very useful and made especially for Indian users.
Blogging is the great platform to do many things. We can share our talent, Advertise, Promote and many more things. If people are interested in writing, then they should consider blogging. Using blogging they can even generate revenue with their quality content.
Here are few tips for the people who are interested in blogging.
About Choosing Subject: Very first important thing is about choosing subject. Now many people always go for subject which is popular. But this is very wrong thing. One should always choose subject as per their interest and knowledge, so that they can justify that blog more efficiently. Person will only able to write more and new things on blog if he/she is interested in it subject. So better think properly and choose the proper subject.
On which platform? : After thinking about a subject people should know on which platform they should make blog. There are many free platforms like blogger and wordpress available for blogging. And they can choose anyone. But for starters, I would like to recommend www.blogger.com which is really good for the beginners. Using this site they can make blog quite easily without knowing about technical stuffs.
Choose Design: Blogger site is having good templates. Better you choose your subject related template from it. If you don’t found any good template related to your subject than better you search for good templates from the internet. You can get some good templates related to your subject from Btemplate site.
About Post: After choosing the proper template, it’s time for making our first post. Go for it with full confident and write your first post with the proper manner with all paragraphs and proper white space. I mean always write your posts like that they not look dull and improper.
Adding Image: Always use images in your posts. Images always create good effects on your reader and also it makes your posts more good looking. But keep in mind that you not use copyrighted images from the internet because that can trouble in future. Go for your own photographs or try to find out free images from the internet.
Be Regular: Now we almost had done it. Now the important thing is that you keep posting new things in regular mode. I mean better you not get bored with your own blog and stop posting. I know this is happens many time but never stop your work on it completely. Otherwise it will make your blog almost dead.
About comment section: If you are just a starter in blogging, than it’s obvious that you don’t having more readers. Then its better you hide commenting section. I am saying this because box showing 0 comments can create negative impact on your reader. I know many people think that this is not necessary. But I have heard this tip from many experience bloggers. So I guess it is important too.
Now this is it. I have already explained everything for a starter to start a fresh blog. I try to explain every detail that I got from my own blogging experience. I hope this will help all newbie who are interested in writing. Best of luck. ;)
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