Developing Quality Technical Information

The #1 Guide to Excellence in Technical Communication—Fully Updated for Embedded Assistance, Mobile, Search, Multimedia, and More Direct from IBM’s own content design experts, this guide shows you how to design product interfaces and technical information that always place users front and center. This edition has been fully revised to help you consistently deliver the right content at the right time. You’ll master today’s best practices to apply nine essential characteristics of high-quality technical information: accuracy, clarity, completeness, concreteness, organization, retrievability, style, task orientation, and visual effectiveness. Coverage Includes Advocating for users throughout the entire product development process Delivering information in an ordered manner by following progressive disclosure techniques Optimizing content so that users can find it from anywhere Streamlining information for mobile delivery Helping users right where they are Whether you’re a writer, editor, information architect, user experience professional, or reviewer, this book shows you how to create great technical information, from the product design to the user interface, topics, and other media. Thoroughly revised and updated Extensive new coverage of self-documenting interfaces and embedded assistance Updated practical guidelines and checklists Hundreds of new examples

"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!

Direct from IBM's own content design experts, this guide shows you how to design product interfaces and technical information that always place users front and center. This edition has been fully revised to help you consistently deliver the right content at the right time. You'll master today's best practices to apply nine essential characteristics of high-quality technical information: accuracy, clarity, completeness, concreteness, organization, retrievability, style, task orientation, and visual effectiveness. Coverage includes: Advocating for users throughout the entire product development process -- Delivering information in an ordered manner by following progressive disclosure techniques -- Optimizing content so that users can find it from anywhere -- Streamlining information for mobile delivery -- Helping users right where they are. Whether you're a writer, editor, information architect, user experience professional, or reviewer, this book shows you how to create great technical information, from the product design to the user interface, topics, and other media.

&>The Start-to-Finish, Best-Practice Guide to Implementing and Using DITA Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is today's most powerful toolbox for constructing information. By implementing DITA, organizations can gain more value from their technical documentation than ever before. Now, three DITA pioneers offer the first complete roadmap for successful DITA adoption, implementation, and usage. Drawing on years of experience helping large organizations adopt DITA, the authors answer crucial questions the "official" DITA documents ignore, including: Where do you start? What should you know up front? What are the pitfalls in implementing DITA? How can you avoid those pitfalls? The authors begin with topic-based writing, presenting proven best practices for developing effective topics and short descriptions. Next, they address content architecture, including how best to set up and implement DITA maps, linking strategies, metadata, conditional processing, and content reuse. Finally, they offer "in the trenches" solutions for ensuring quality implementations, including guidance on content conversion. Coverage includes: Knowing how and when to use each DITA element-and when not to Writing "minimalist," task-oriented information that quickly meets users' needs Creating effective task, concept, and reference topics for any product, technology, or service Writing effective short descriptions that work well in all contexts Structuring DITA maps to bind topics together and provide superior navigation Using links to create information webs that improve retrievability and navigation Gaining benefits from metadata without getting lost in complexity Using conditional processing to eliminate redundancy and rework Systematically promoting reuse to improve quality and reduce costs Planning, resourcing, and executing effective content conversion Improving quality by editing DITA content and XML markup If you're a writer, editor, information architect, manager, or consultant who evaluates, deploys, or uses DITA, this book will guide you all the way to success. Also see the other books in this IBM Press series: Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors The IBM Style Guide: Conventions for Writers and Editors

Straight from IBM: complete, proven guidelines for writing consistent, clear, concise, consumable, reusable, and easy to- translate content Brings together everything IBM has learned about writing outstanding technical and business content.

Practical, research-based overview of careers in technical communication featuring narratives from working professionals in a range of careers and international contexts Technical communication is a diverse, growing, and rapidly changing field, and an up-to-date guide to careers will be useful for students and junior professionals in the US and Europe Competing books on technical communication careers are outdated and do not include non-US contexts; this book contains current research and practitioner narratives that most closely examine careers as they operate today

Developing High Quality Data Models provides an introduction to the key principles of data modeling. It explains the purpose of data models in both developing an Enterprise Architecture and in supporting Information Quality; common problems in data model development; and how to develop high quality data models, in particular conceptual, integration, and enterprise data models. The book is organized into four parts. Part 1 provides an overview of data models and data modeling including the basics of data model notation; types and uses of data models; and the place of data models in enterprise architecture. Part 2 introduces some general principles for data models, including principles for developing ontologically based data models; and applications of the principles for attributes, relationship types, and entity types. Part 3 presents an ontological framework for developing consistent data models. Part 4 provides the full data model that has been in development throughout the book. The model was created using Jotne EPM Technologys EDMVisualExpress data modeling tool. This book was designed for all types of modelers: from those who understand data modeling basics but are just starting to learn about data modeling in practice, through to experienced data modelers seeking to expand their knowledge and skills and solve some of the more challenging problems of data modeling. Uses a number of common data model patterns to explain how to develop data models over a wide scope in a way that is consistent and of high quality Offers generic data model templates that are reusable in many applications and are fundamental for developing more specific templates Develops ideas for creating consistent approaches to high quality data models