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The book presents a much needed approach to quality technical communication and a working plan for achieving quality. The examples are excellent and are easy to use and adapt. The editorial advice is simple and clear enough for tech writers who did not major in English or journalism. It is most worthy of a text in university programs, but it is more valuable to experienced writers, editors and managers concerned with raising the quality of their publications. The main difference between this and other books is that in each of the first nine chapters, one quality characteristic is presented that you can apply to your writing project to make technical information easy to use, easy to understand and easy to find. There are checklists at the end of each chapter for review and a Quality checklist in the appendix covering all of the characteristics. The book shows original text and revision text so that you can actually browse the book and see the differences applied. This is another excellent feature that should catch a purchaser's eye.
From the Back Cover
"The examples are excellent--right on target and easy to understand and adapt. Even those who don't adopt the entire procedure can profit from the parts, but the greatest value will flow to those who adopt the whole." --Carolyn Mulford, senior writer and editor of Writing That Works
"This is also a book that students can keep for their professional libraries because it will increase in its value to them after they leave class and face real life experiences on the job. It is plain enough for them to understand while they are learning, and at the same time comprehensive enough to support them as professionals." --Elizabeth Boling, Instructional Systems Technology, Indiana University
"It practices what it preaches. Its guidelines are understandable and appropriate; its examples clear. It contains exactly what writers and editors need to know. It is the book that I would have written." --Cynthia E. Spellman, Unisys
The #1 guide to excellence in documentation--now completely updated! A systematic, proven approach to creating great documentation- Thoroughly revised and updated
- More practical examples
- More coverage of topic-based information, search, and internationalization
Direct from IBM's own documentation experts, this is the definitive guide to developing outstanding technical documentation--for the Web and for print. Using extensive before-and-after examples, illustrations, and checklists, the authors show exactly how to create documentation that's easy to find, understand, and use. This edition includes extensive new coverage of topic-based information, simplifying search and retrievability, internationalization, visual effectiveness, and much more.
Coverage includes:
- Focusing on the tasks and topics users care about most
- Saying more with fewer words
- Using organization and other means to deliver faster access to information
- Presenting information in more visually inviting ways
- Improving the effectiveness of your review process
- Learning from example: sample text, screen captures, illustrations, tables, and much more
Whether you're a writer, editor, designer, or reviewer, if you want to create great documentation, this book shows you how!
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Customer Reviews
Readers wanting ideas and examples for writing software manuals might also consider "Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry" written by Sun Technical Publications.
I own both books, and have found them invaluable.
The book covers ease of use, ease of understanding, and ease of retrieval of information. It then discusses how to apply the quality characteristics that have been covered in the preceding chapters and how to ensure that those characteristics have been met. Throughout these chapters, extensive "before and after" examples are provided, helping to clarify the points made.
Appendixes provide a quality checklist, a definition of who checks which characteristic, and a correlation of quality characteristics and information elements.
I have bought many copies of this book, which I have given to systems architects, project planners, programmers, and testers who were required, as part of their job, to write technical information. In doing this, I was being entirely selfish. In a grossly understaffed editorial department, I needed to educate those "authors" in correct and appropriate grammar and punctuation, to help them write more clearly and, thus, reduce the workload on my tiny editorial group. Of all the options available, this excellent book was most likely to succeed.
One of the most impressive aspects of this book is the vast amount of tech writing examples that can be incorporated into actual documentation. Instead of merely telling the writer what steps to take, Hargis actually SHOWS the writer what to do. How refreshing to read a handbook that actually illustrates tech writing techniques.
The book also provides a multitude of checklists that show the writer the logical progression of the documentation.
A definite must for your stack of books next to your computer.
There is truly a wealth of excellent information in this book. The authors have covered virtually every aspect of writing technical manuals and also for online material, making this an excellent guide to refer to anytime a writing question comes up. From the beginning chapter (Quality technical information), through chapters on Accuracy, Completeness, Clarity, Style, Organization, and Retrievability (to name a few), you can clearly see this book's attention to detail. The book's last chapter (Reviewing, testing, and evaluating technical information) offers tips on doing review cycles, who to involve in them, usability tests, and evaluating the information contained in the manual.
I especially liked the chapter on Retrievability. As the book points out, information doesn't do the reader any good if there isn't a logical way to find it. This chapter points out ways to "facilitate" navigation, by providing a complete index, the proper level of detail in the Table of Contents, even helpful links (for online material).
Another excellent chapter was the one on Style, although clearly each chapter in this book stands out on its own for providing detailed information about the chapter topic.
Another nice feature of this book is that the beginning of each chapter lists the main points (or topics) to be covered, and then summarizes them at the chapter's end. It serves as an excellent reminder of these points and one that can be referred back to.
I found this book to be an excellent reference and recommend it to any technical writer, regardless of their experience level.
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