Documentation service

Documentation of software requires special attention.

Software documentation is both, hard work and an art. I have become an artist in software documentation due to hard work for more than a decade in this business.

Unfortunately, software documentation plays a subordinate role in application development. It is not uncommon that a software project does not have a dedicated Help author assigned to it while developers are usually more occupied with producing program code than with producing helpful documentation for the end user.

The end user's acceptance of a software and the ability to use it is highly dependent on his/her capability to find, when needed, help about the software. This capability is directly related to the quality of software documentation.

Software project managers tend to underestimate the importance of high quality software documentation for the end user. It is not unusual for project managers to assign the documentation task to a developer who wrote the software. This can result in a situation where the software is not adequately documented, or where the end user must be informed in seminars or on-line forums how to use the software.

If the scenario outlined above is familiar to you, we have something in common: experience. I can help you to find weak points in your communication between the end user and your software. The acceptance of your software increases by the end user's capability to help him or herself.

If you are doubtful about documentation issues in your software project, let me ask some questions:

Are you able to keep your documentation up-to-date with changes in your software project?
Is it possible to produce online-help and printed material from the same sources?
Is it possible to publish documentation in the internet/intranet using the same sources?

Software documentation must be published for a variety of media today: Printed media (Books, PDF, RTF, DOC), Help files for off-line reading (HLP, CHM) or online publications (HTML, Internet, Intranet). To keep any medium up-to-date with recent information requires that documentation be produced from a single source.

The Help author edits this single source. All other help file formats are automatically re-created when that single source changes.

I have outlined some issues of writing software documentation and producing, from a single source, End User documentation to make you aware of documentation issues. Documentation affects the End User in the same way as the software producer.

If my outline of Software Documentation issues has made you think and you don't know someone to write a precise documentation for your software, let's talk. You can address any documentation issue to me using this Documentation link.

Please outline the issue you like to work at, and I'll contact you.

Sincerely, Hannes Ziegler