Wurman’s LATCH Model of Information Organization For Technical Documentation

Technical writing has its mechanical aspects that need to be mastered. A good technical writer must know how to use English effectively as well as various software products to produce acceptable technical documents. But I wish technical writing were all about that. The hardest part comes before one even sits down in front of a computer to type the first word. The hardest part in documenting anything is organizing the information in a way that makes sense from the user’s point of view. Otherwise a technical document suddenly looks irrelevant.

Akinci, Ugur. Technical Communication Center (2009). Articles>Information Design>Documentation>Technical Writing

What Technical Communicators Can Learn from Comics    

Citing the rise of graphic novels, comics, and in particular, Google’s new web browser Chrome, which has a comic-book-style manual, Opsteegh argues that technical communicators can learn a thing or two about conveying information from graphic novelists.

Opsteegh, Michael. Intercom (2009). Articles>Information Design>Technical Writing>Documentation

Creating Topics: Where do you Draw the Line?

It's hard to look at a page of text and try to decide where to divide things to create individual topics. That "bottom up" approach is kind of pointless, in fact. There are better ways.

Armstrong, Eric. Sun Microsystems (2008). Articles>Documentation>Information Design>Technical Writing