Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Documentation

by Alan S. Pringle, Sarah S. O'Keefe

To succeed in technical writing, you need a lot more than just writing ability. Technical Writing 101 details the skills you need as a technical writer, and it explains how to handle the pressures of tight deadlines and ever-changing product specifications. This valuable reference also describes the entire documentation process—planning, writing, editing, indexing, and production. This updated second edition features the latest information on single sourcing and a new chapter on how trends in structured authoring and Extensible Markup Language (XML) affect technical writers.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Business, How To, Technology

Paperback

First published September 15, 2000

Reviews

[Nico Alba · Rating 4 out of 5]

A basic but efficient guide to the fundamentals of technical writing: the art of simplifying the complex, the skills required in planning projects, the technology you can use to assist you, and the obstacles you might encounter along the way.

[Matt Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exceedingly basic primer on technical writing. This is a useful book for working with other technical writers so that there is a framework that allows you to discuss the parts, process, and approach to technical writing. These can be difficult conversations with tech writers since experienced tech writers may or may not have a formal background in writing or tech writing. Companies often hire technical people who lack a formal writing background, and so new tech writers may be unfamiliar with basic concepts such as audience or document type.

In an effort to be breezy and accessible, the book leaves a lot out about technical writing. I was reading the 2nd edition in which structured content was called out as "the next big thing." In some orgs, it was the next big thing, and then Docs as Code was the next big thing, and now it is a very mixed bag from place to place. Perhaps the latest edition has addressed the gaps and changes in the industry.

That said, this book could be very useful to develop a common language and approach, and it has, I think, all of the essential parts.

[Ioana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really good introduction to technical writing, particularly because it's written in plain language and doesn't feel like a textbook. The content covers pretty much everything a junior needs to know and I fully intend to transform it into mandatory reading for all new joiners on my team.

Obviously, this is aimed at absolute beginniners - if you are already employed as a technical writer, you probably won't learn anything new. And of course this book won't teach you *everything* - there are a lot more tools on the market, for example -, but it is a great starting point, especially the first chapters, which describe the day-to-day of the job (with its good *and* its bads).

Plus, the Kindle version is available for a dollar on Amazon!

[B. Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beginners guide...

I have been creating content for more than ten years, and am shifting my focus to technical writing. This book provides a great foundation for building this career. It also provides a nice assortment of resources that will help the tech writer.

[Luboš · Rating 2 out of 5]

For beginners, not if you already have some experience with writing. It mentions DITA but not DocBook. There is a nice chapter about indexing (I have seen many poor technical texts and books without an index).

----quotes----
Some reasonable estimates are as follows: 8 hours per completed page

The rule of thumb for technical writing is that you should write at an eighth-grade level.

the editor will complete about 10 pages per hour, which means about 400 pages per week

the rule of thumb is that the index should contain approximately one page of two-column index entries for every 20 pages of documentation. Thus, a 100-page book would have about a 5-page index with two columns of entries

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick introduction to the importance of technical writing with a mild emphasis on how to project manage a writing / documentation process. Good for managers or other people who are disinclined to reading or writing but need to understand it.

[Allyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive overview

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a comprehensive overview of technical writing. It provides the why along with the how-to.