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As a technical communicator, you will either write computer documentation, or work with people who do. It's as simple as that. Thus, you need to be familiar with the process of designing effective documentation, both paper and online.
You may already be familiar with some of the principles and concepts involved. In some sense, software documentation represents a particular application of the principles of document design. However, software documentation warrants treatment as a separate area of study because the content area to which these general theories are applied is sufficiently distinctive and volatile. In particular, the computer places users in a task environment which is or can be nonlinear andwhich is prone to overload and confuse them with its levels andcategories of information.
The basic principles we will cover in this course are these: audienceanalysis, document organization, and the facilitation of informationaccess. Also relevant are task analysis, layering for multipleaudiences, interface design, minimalist design, the social context ofdocumentation, and document testing. |
Software Documentation
http://www.coas.drexel.edu/humanities/faculty/thury/softdoc.html
Thury, Eva
Drexel University
Abstract: As a technical communicator, you will either write computer documentation, or work with people who do. It's as simple as that. Thus, you need to be familiar with the process of designing effective documentation, both paper and online.
You may already be familiar with some of the principles and concepts involved. In some sense, software documentation represents a particular application of the principles of document design. However, software documentation warrants treatment as a separate area of study because the content area to which these general theories are applied is sufficiently distinctive and volatile. In particular, the computer places users in a task environment which is or can be nonlinear andwhich is prone to overload and confuse them with its levels andcategories of information.
The basic principles we will cover in this course are these: audienceanalysis, document organization, and the facilitation of informationaccess. Also relevant are task analysis, layering for multipleaudiences, interface design, minimalist design, the social context ofdocumentation, and document testing.
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