Technical Writing, User Assistance, Information Design
Links for technical writers and others who create technical documentation and software documentation: technical writing, user assistance (UA), technical communication, technical documentation, information design
On this page:
User Experience and Information Design
Structured authoring according to DITA and other standards
EServer Technical Communication Library The most comprehensive virtual library for technical communicators on the web. Provides links to thousands of articles and resources. tcworld Online magazine for international information development. http://www.tcworld.info/e-magazine/ TechWhirl Tech Writer Today Online Magazine Online articles and resources for technical writers and technical communicators. UA Training Provides a collection of excellent presentation slides with a focus on software user assistance. http://www.ellisonconsulting.com/presentations.html Great User Documents Free downloadable course on technical documentation in HTML format. Dozuki Tech Writing Handbook Brief online handbook on the essentials of technical writing. Nicely designed but very not very comprehensive. https://www.dozuki.com/Tech_Writing Online Technical Writing Basic online textbook on technical writing. https://www.prismnet.com/~hcexres/textbook/ Web Writing That Works If you browse a little you can find some good tips here. http://www.webwritingthatworks.com WIKIVERSITY Provides a basic online course in technical writing. https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Technical_writing Indexing user manuals The British/Irish Society of Indexers provides a number of articles on indexing user manuals (go to “Advice for authors > Advice to technical authors”). There’s also a corresponding usability study available (go to “About indexing > Usability of indexes”). |
Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines for Windows Desktop apps (“UX Guide”) Comprehensive guidelines published by Microsoft. https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/design The Usability Methods Toolbox Brief explanations of the most common methods used in usability testing. UsabilityNet Some good information and downloads, especially on usability engineering methods. Funded by the European Union. Usability Institute Provides a collection of usability examples and checklists. http://www.usabilityinstitute.com Usability.gov Usability basics, methods, templates, guidelines and other resources, provided by U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. UI Style Guides Collection of links to a number of user interface style guides. https://www.experiencedynamics.com/approach/ui-style-guides HCI Bibliography ACM SIGCHI is the special interest group on Computer-Human Interaction of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). They provide a very comprehensive link collection as well as a bibliography database with more than 50000 listed publications. InfoDesign News and links to hundreds of articles and resources on information design. http://www.informationdesign.org A List Apart Hundreds of comprehensive articles, mainly on web design and web technology. tcworld Online magazine for international information management. Boxes and Arrows Lots of interesting articles on design, including graphic design, interaction design and information architecture. User Interface Engineering Provides a large collection of excellent, detailed articles. UXmatters Following its motto “Insights and inspiration for the user experience community,” UXmatters provides a wealth of excellent articles on user experience and user assistance. Articles of the Nielsen Norman Group Frequently published articles on web usability. For good reasons this probably is the most frequently linked and cited web site in its field. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ Don Norman jnd we bsite Dozens of great essays on product design. The section labeled “In Praise of Good Design” illustrates products that have some special positive characteristic worthy of comment. Userfocus Collection of comprehensive articles on usability and user experience. |
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Here you can purchase copies of international standards. EUR-Lex Free information and downloads on European law, including the Machinery Directive. Provided by the European Union. |
javahelp The official web site for the JavaHelp system. https://javaee.github.io/javahelp/ Oracle Help Technologies Oracle’s web site on Oracle Help for Java and Oracle Help for the web. http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/index-083946.html MobileRead Popular forums and comprehensive wiki on ebooks. helpinfo Web site dedicated to Microsoft Help. |
DITA XML.org The official community and resource for the DITA OASIS standard. Fluid Topics DITA publications DITA specification in webhelp format. Learning DITA Free online learning courses on the basics of DITA. ditamap Collection of DITA-related information and links. DITA Writer Various DITA-related articles and links. DocBook Originally intended for writing technical documents related to computer hardware and software, but can also be used for other sorts of documentation. http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/ http://sagehill.net/docbookxsl/index.html S1000D Specification for technical documentation related to defense systems, civil aviation products, construction industry products, and ship industry products. PI-Mod Information model for plant construction and mechanical engineering (and others).
Some less well-known or emerging standards and initiatives are: http://projectmallard.org and https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Yelp/Tools |
I’d Rather Be Writing “A blog about the latest trends in technical communication” by Tom Johnson. Cherryleaf Technical Authors Blog Blog on a wide spectrum of topics related to user assistance. http://www.cherryleaf.com/blog/ Scriptorium Publishing Blog on technical communication in general but with a focus on technology-related topics. http://www.scriptorium.com/blog/ Every Page is Page One “Readers can enter anywhere. Is your content ready to receive them?” by Mark Baker. CyberText Newsletter “Official newsletter and blog of CyberText Consulting: Technical communication specialists.” https://cybertext.wordpress.com ffeathers “A technical writer’s blog” by Sarah Maddox. https://ffeathers.wordpress.com Usable Help “Examining documentation and help systems since 2002” by Gordon Meyer. http://www.g2meyer.com/usablehelp/ The Techwriting Engineer Blog by Mattias Sander with a focus on MadCap Flare, Lean Management, and Kaizen. http://techwritingengineer.com The Content Wrangler “Content is a business asset worthy of being managed” by Scott Abel. Technical Communication Center “Technical Writing & Communication Tips, Trends & Tutorials” by Ugur Akinci. http://www.technicalcommunicationcenter.com The m-Learning Revolution Blog Blog by by RJ Jacquez. The Cooper Journal “A blog about design, business and the world we live in.” By Cooper. https://www.cooper.com/journal/ Touch Usability “News and research on touch interface usability.” By Kevin Arthur. Flare for Programmers “Programming, scripting, and automating with Madcap Flare projects and outputs”. By Thomas Tregner. http://tregner.com/flare-blog/ I Came, I Saw, I Learned … “The place to share resources, ideas, and general information about Adobe’s Technical Communication Suite applications: RoboHelp, FrameMaker, Captivate, Acrobat, and PhotoShop.” Blog by IconLogic, Inc. TechComm Central by Adobe Blog by Adobe staff and some guest bloggers. http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/ Docu + Design Daube Various FrameMaker resources. http://www.daube.ch/docu/fmaker00.html ClickStart Various tips on Captivate, CSS, Flare, HTML, dynamic help, and web-based help. http://www.clickstart.net/?page_id=30 A Flare for Help “Helping you use MadCap Flare effectively.” Blog by Laura Johnson. WvanWeelden Consultancy Blog concentrating on Adobe RoboHelp. |
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This page was last updated 10/2017
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