Technical Documentation

• User Documentation
• System Administrator Documentation
• Online Help
• Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)
• Final Packaging Material / Release Notes
• Functional Specifications
• Technical Specifications
• Web Content
• Product Marketing Requirements
• QA Plans, Test Plans, and Test Lists

The technical documentation services offered by Shasta QA are listed below in order of increasing added value in terms of improved document usability or skills involved. Each service includes the elements of the previous level; for example, copy editing includes proofreading.

Proofreading

Correcting typographical errors, misspellings, punctuation, and other "glaring" errors.

Copy Editing

Revising individual sentences for grammar, consistency, clarity, and cross-references.

Organizational Editing

Reformatting the organizational outline of the document and rearranging blocks of text as needed to improve usability and narrative flow of the document.

Revising, Rewriting, and Extending

• Revising existing documents by writing content to reflect new or changed features
• Checking existing content for accuracy
• Adding new supplementary sections-such as indexes, glossaries, or appendices
• Creating new graphical elements, such as screen shots, figures, diagrams, photographs, or tables
• Revising the format or template of a document

Original Writing

• Writing a new document based on marketing collateral, design specifications, interviews with developers, and testing the functionality of software builds
• Creating the document design or template including, for example, the typefaces, pagination styles (sequential or folio-by-chapter), chapter and paragraph numbering, organization by parts, sections, chapters
• Creating versions of documents for software running on different platforms, such as various Windows, Mac, Sun, or Linux Operating Systems

Indexing is an art in itself. Studies have shown that readers typically refer to a book's index more frequently than to the table of contents. A well-designed index can significantly increase a document's usability.

Document Usability Assessment

For any technical material-manuals, specifications, online Help, or web content-Shasta QA can review and/or rewrite your documents for:

• Accuracy
• Completeness
• Clarity
• Usability

You might benefit from a Shasta QA usability assessment if users have complained about your documentation, your writers are racing toward a deadline, or you want to create a clean document "platform" for your next product release.

GUI Assessments

As the first non-developer to use software, the technical writer is in a unique position to act as an advocate for non-technical users.

During the software development process, each developer is tasked with designing specific features or functions. These features are then tested to confirm that they perform as expected. However, the resulting software may still not provide the features, functionality, or usability expected by real-world users.

If software is highly-technical or industry-specific, further usability testing by expert users in the field may be required.

If software is geared to novice users, a GUI assessment by a technical writer can help to ensure that software provides the functionality expected by users as well as being intuitive and easy-to-use.

Style Guides, Document Templates, and Content Migration

One factor that may decrease document usability is lack of consistency. Readers may be confused by a document that is inconsistently formatted even if they are not quite conscious of the reason for their confusion. Having a company or product-specific Style Guide and ensuring that writing conforms to the guide can go a long way toward increasing the usability of your documents.

Similar to using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in HTML, a template can be created in your desktop publishing software that implements your Style Guide.

Migrating document contents from one software application to another can be frustrating and time-consuming. Though this process can be "automated," it typically creates a number of unintended results that require additional manual tweaking.

Shasta QA can assist your company in creating or revising Style Guides and templates or in migrating content from one application or environment to another.

With the broad range of Technical Documentation services offered by Shasta QA, the next step is to determine how we can best meet your documentation needs.

Use Shasta QA for everything from supplementing your in-house technical documentation department to serving as your virtual documentation department.

We can provide services such as proofreading, editing, or creating templates that free up your in-house writers for more demanding, creative, and technically challenging writing tasks. If your applications are highly-technical, involving a long learning curve, this may be the best way to make use of our services.

We can provide quality assurance of your documents through proofreading, editing, or usability assessments. Since it's especially difficult to proofread or edit your own documents, it never hurts to have another pair of eyes review documents, and usability assessments can ensure the accuracy, completeness, and user-friendliness of documents.

We can write indexes or glossaries that add value to existing documents.

We can leverage the expertise that we develop by editing or writing your documents in order to suggest enhancements to your product, such as the addition of new features or changes to existing features, GUIs, nomenclature, or controlling metaphors.